Cover image: Gabriel Attal and Michel Barnier after the transfer of powers, at Matignon, September 5, 2024.JULIEN MUGUET FOR “LE MONDE”
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Emmanuel Macron appointed former right-wing minister and European Commissioner Michel Barnier as Prime Minister on Thursday, September 5, sixty days after the second round of legislative elections, which resulted in a National Assembly without a majority, provoking the ire of the left and a more wait-and-see reaction from the National Rally.
The new prime minister, who will be supported by the presidential camp and the Republicans, but who does not have a majority in the Assembly, will have to form a government capable of surviving the tabling of a motion of censure and thus putting an end to the most serious political crisis since 1958.
During his handover of power with Gabriel Attal at Matignon, the new Prime Minister promised “changes and ruptures”displaying his willingness to “more action than talk” and of “tell the truth” on “financial and ecological debt”.
To achieve this, he felt that he “will have to[it] “a lot of listening” And “respect for all political forces that are represented” in Parliament, without excluding the National Rally, which holds the keys to a possible censure of his government.
After having torpedoed the candidacies of Bernard Cazeneuve and Xavier Bertrand, the National Rally did not veto that of Michel Barnier, who “will judge on the evidence”. “ [Le nouveau premier ministre] seems to meet at least the first criterion that we had requested, that is to say someone who is respectful of the different political forces”reacted Marine Le Pen as soon as the Elysée announced its choice.
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