Michel Barnier’s government officially begins work, but is already under crossfire from the left and the right

Brussels – After a long wait and an endless tug-of-war between political forces and French President Emmanuel Macron, Michel Barnier‘s government finally met for the first time today (Sept. 23) at the Matignon Palace. However, the road ahead is narrow and all uphill: the budget for next year has to be approved under the crossfire of the opposition. The Left already announced a no-confidence motion, while the far right is waiting in the wings. 

Barnier, the eldest premier ministre of the Fifth Republic, unveiled over the weekend the composition of his new minority executive: 34 ministers and five secretaries of state, for a center-right government that winks at Catholic conservatism and the hard line on migrants and security. A government that combines what remains of the Macronist camp with the parts of the right that defines itself as “Republicans,” i.e., the neo-Gollists and liberal-conservatives who still consider the Rassemblement national (RN) of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella as too extremist.

Monday morning saw the handover between outgoing ministers and their successors as the new government met in full force for a working breakfast that should then make way in the afternoon for the first Council of Ministers of the Barnier cabinet at the Elysee Palace, in the presence of the head of state. The tenant of Matignon asked his team to be “irreproachable and modest” and to show “respect for all our fellow citizens and all political parties” as the political climate across the Alps is particularly overheated.

For sure, the most controversial appointment was Bruno Retaliau, who replaced outgoing minister Gerard Darmanin at the Interior Ministry this morning. Known as a “radical conservative,” he declared he would hold a line of firmness because the French want “more order, order on the streets, order on the borders.” However, there are several members of Barnier’s cabinet from his party, Les Républicains (LR), who are against the recognition of same-sex marriages or the insertion in the constitution of the freedom to access abortion — e.g., Secretaries of State Laurence Garnier (in charge of Consumer Affairs), Annie Genevard (Agriculture), Patrick Hetzel (Higher Education), and Othman Nasrou (Citizenship and the Fight Against Discrimination). 

And so, Socialist leader Olivier Faure announced that as soon as the new premier presented his programmatic lines to the Assemblée Nationale, the Left (the Nouveau Front Populaire that won elections without obtaining an absolute majority) would file a no-confidence motion against the “most right-wing government of the Fifth Republic,” as representatives of La France Insoumise (LFI) of Jean-Luc Mélenchon confirmed. The appointment in the House is scheduled for Oct. 1, when Barnier should present his government’s program to MPs. 

On the other side of the political spectrum, the far-right Rassemblement will wait to hear the prime minister’s speech to decide whether or not to challenge him. According to Faure, the LePenists will not vote for the no-confidence motion, which would, therefore, be doomed to fail. RN MPs say they want to evaluate the new government’s plan for the 2025 budget, which is the number one priority for Barnier, with France among the countries on special watch from Brussels on managing public accounts after the European Commission opened an excessive deficit infringement procedure last July. 

Highlighting the importance of this transition, the prime minister took direct oversight of the Budget and Public Accounts portfolio, delegated to Macronist Laurent Saint-Martin. Minister of the Economy and Finance Antoine Armand, also from the ranks of Renaissance, promised to “reduce public spending” but did not rule out having to resort to “some exceptional and targeted withdrawals.” On public spending, one battleground will surely be the controversial pension reform sought by Macron, which both the right and the left consider a smokescreen. The RN, on which the executive depends for its survival in Parliament, does not seem willing to make concessions. MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy reiterated that his party “will always propose to repeal the reform” and sternly warned the new cabinet: “We are the ones who will decide whether or not this government has a future.” 

The other heavyweight ministries in the Barnier government are part of the liberal center and Gaullist right. The new head of Foreign Affairs, who replaced the new French candidate to the EU Commission, Stéphane Séjourné, is the Macronist Jean-Noël Barrot (son of another European commissioner, Jacques Barrot), who pledged to “defend international law” and protect the country “from any foreign interference, from any hybrid threat.” The European Affairs ministry went to Benjamin Haddad, a member of Renaissance, while Agnès Pannier-Runacher will be in charge of Ecological Transition. Another of the president’s men is Sébastien Lecornu, the only one to have retained his role as minister of Armed Forces along with fellow party member Rachida Dati at the Culture Ministry. Conservative Annie Genevard (LR) will manage the Agriculture portfolio. The only center-left minister is former Socialist Didier Migaud, who will manage the Justice portfolio. However, he has not been in active politics since 2010.