New government: will Michel Barnier's “finalized” list of names really be the last ?

Epilogue this Saturday for the formation of the government ? After "final adjustments", Michel Barnier sent a list of names "finalized" to the head of state on Friday evening and the MoDem has confirmed its participation, even if deputies from the centrist party, worried about a team marked too much to the right, remain reserved.

The Prime Minister, who has“full freedom” to form his government, assures Emmanuel Macron, still hopes to be able to present it "before Sunday".

"Everything depends on the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life", which must verify that no prospective minister is in trouble with the tax authorities or presents a conflict of interest, it was stressed on Saturday in the entourage of the Prime Minister.

In the meantime, the latter spoke Friday evening with the Head of State after having addressed him “the finalized composition of the government“, the same source added.

On Thursday, a list of 38 ministers, including 16 full-time ministers, was sent to the President of the Republic. But some very right-wing figures (such as Bruno Retailleau at the Interior Ministry or, at the Family Ministry, LR senator Laurence Garnier, opposed to same-sex marriage) are causing concern within the presidential camp, particularly in the MoDem.

After some hesitation, the party finally confirmed its participation. "If we note that the left float is missing, we are not going to remove the keel from the boat. Leaving would have weakened the government. “We will have a watchdog role”, explains Fabien Robert, its deputy secretary general, in Sud-Ouest.

“We do not sacrifice ourselves in a situation like this. We must trust the Prime Minister”, adds Bruno Millienne, spokesperson, on Sud Radio.

But the group remains more reserved.“We have not received the finalized list. Has there been a rebalancing ?”, asks Perrine Goulet, MoDem MP in Nièvre.

What about Laurence Garnier in particular ? The name of Renaissance senator Xavier Iacovelli is now mentioned at the Family, according to concordant sources. Will her LR colleague be kept in the team ? Definitively excluded ?

"In any case, we do not feel tied to parliament and we will decide our position text by text", notes Perrine Goulet.

The list "finalized" Will Michel Barnier's election be the last one ? In recent days, "names are moving in all directions", summarizes a ministerial advisor.

In Education, the largest ministry, the Macronist elected representative from the North, Violette Spillebout, was apparently sidelined. The Renaissance MP for French people abroad, Anne Genetet, was reportedly approached for the position, designated by the head of state in 2023 as a "reserved domain". More than two weeks after Michel Barnier's arrival at Matignon, the presidential camp remains divided on the way forward.

Faced with these hesitations, in the name of "the collective interest", Emmanuel Macron urged his allies to "help" the Prime Minister to form his government.

"Red line"

But some voices in Horizons, which would only have one full minister, do not seem more convinced. Appointing Laurence Garnier is crossing a “red line” for Pierre-Yves Bournazel.

Same disagreement within the left wing of Renaissance. “We are not here to make Fillon II. When you come from the left, you have no place in a government like that", regrets in Le Parisien the former Minister of Agriculture Stéphane Travert, a former socialist who joined Macronie.

"No ambiguity" has been removed on the policy that will be led by Michel Barnier, deplores another member of the former majority. "None. On immigration, taxes, bioethics…"

"Stolen election"

The left, which came out on top in the legislative elections, is outraged. "Nobody” to the New Popular Fronte “does not want to go into this Raft of the Medusa that is already sinking”, denounced on France Inter the rebellious MEP Manon Aubry, denouncing a team that will be, according to her, “on a drip from the extreme right”.

Environmentalists and rebellious people were to join demonstrations organized Saturday in several cities in France by associations, student, environmental and feminist organizations against the tandem Macron-Barnier.

"It is a question of dignity for an entire people, after an election denied and stolen by the President of the Republic", notes the leader of the rebellious deputies, Mathilde Panot.

LFI intends to "increase popular pressure" after a first day of protest on September 7. In Paris, between 20,000 and 40,000 people are expected, according to a police source.

The head of state has installed at Matignon “a hard-right, anti-social, anti-migrant Prime Minister with a homophobic past who will only be able to govern with the permanent agreement of Marine Le Pen“, wrote the Student Union, the Union syndicale et lycéenne, the Family Planning and Attac France in their call for mobilization.