Cover image: New Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his predecessor Gabriel Attal during the handover ceremony at the Hôtel de Matignon in Paris on September 5, 2024.STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP
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Emmanuel Macron appointed former right-wing minister and European Commissioner Michel Barnier as Prime Minister on Thursday 5 September, 60 days after the second round of legislative elections which resulted in a National Assembly without a majority, provoking the ire of the left but a more wait-and-see reaction from the National Rally.
The new Prime Minister, who will be supported by the presidential camp and the LR, but without a majority, will have to try to form a government capable of surviving parliamentary censure, to put 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”, showing 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 take 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.
A tacit green light. After torpedoing the candidacies of Bernard Cazeneuve and Xavier Bertrand, the National Rally did not veto that of Michel Barnier, appointed to Matignon and already under pressure from the far-right party that “will judge on the evidence”. The new prime minister “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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