Protests are being held in France over the selection of Michel Barnier as the country’s new prime minister.
The demonstrations were called by left-wing political groups whose candidate for prime minister was rejected by President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron appointed the former EU Brexit negotiator 60 days after parliamentary elections put France in political gridlock, with three powerful blocs—the greatest of which was the left—unable to create a majority in the National Assembly.
In a TV interview, Barnier, a centre-right politician, claimed he was willing to create a government with left-wing MPs.
However, Barnier’s survival may be dependent on votes from the far-right party, who have stated that they will not join his administration.
A day after taking office, the prime minister met with Macron and began building a government. After speaking with leaders of the right-wing Republicans and the president’s centrist Ensemble group, he stated that the meetings were “full of energy.”
In a television interview on Friday evening, Barnier, 73, stated that he was willing to choose ministers from across the political spectrum, including “people on the left.”
Left-wing parties are outraged that Macron rejected their prime ministerial nominee, Lucie Castets, because she had no chance of surviving a confidence vote in the National Assembly.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a long-standing firebrand for the radical France Unbreakable party, has called for nationwide marches and the “most powerful mobilization possible.” Some unions and youth groups have expressed their willingness to participate.
We have a prime minister who is fully reliant on the National Rally,” said Castets, who lamented that she, like millions of French people, felt betrayed by the president’s decision to rule with the far right.
When Barnier entered the prime minister’s residence on Friday evening, he promised to address “the challenges, the anger, the suffering, the sense of abandonment, and injustice that pervades many of our cities, suburbs, and rural areas.”
Speaking with TF1, Barnier stated that as prime minister, he would address national concerns like pension reform, migration, and the country’s economic predicament.
Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, whose centrist bloc finished second in the election, said following meetings with Barnier that Ensemble was willing to join a broad front with the Republican right and left without “any desire to block or offer unconditional support.”
Barnier is a Republican, and party leader Laurent Wauquiez said his choice was dependent on the prime minister’s plans: “For the moment, nothing has been decided.”
Some on the left claimed it was their responsibility that Barnier became prime minister. Paris’s Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said the president considered former Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve for the position, but his own party rejected him.
Another Socialist mayor, Karim Bouamrane, criticized the intransigence of other members of the left-wing alliance: “The path they chose was 100% or nothing, and we are here with nothing.”
Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, leaders of the National Rally, have already stated that they will not join Barnier’s administration and will instead wait to see what policies he proposes to parliament before voting to support him.
The left has threatened a vote of confidence, but without the support of the far right, they will be unable to remove Barnier.
“He is a man who has never gone too far when it comes to the National Rally; he has never thrown us out; he is a man who is willing to discuss,” Marine Le Pen added, implying that they may allow him to remain in government.
Without his party’s support, Barnier would be unable to secure the 289 votes required in the 577-seat Assembly, instead relying solely on centrists and Republicans.
