facing a no-confidence motion challenge! france forms a new government, and the strong return of the right wing has attracted criticism from many parties
2024-09-23
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[global times correspondent in france shang kaiyuan tang xiang] the french presidential palace announced the list of members of the new government on the evening of the 21st, and was immediately criticized by all parties. according to france international radio, after more than two months of political chaos, france finally has a government led by the new prime minister barnier. the new government has to mainly appoint right-wing politicians, which immediately came under criticism from the left, far-left and far-right parties. the far-right camp criticized the new government for "marking the return of macronism" and "having no future", while the leader of the far-left camp said that he would "get the new government out of office as soon as possible." the list of members of the new government does not need to be approved by parliament, but when the french national assembly opens on october 1, the new government will face the challenge of a motion of no confidence. some analysts believe that both the french left and the far right have expressed dissatisfaction with the composition of the new government, but whether they will unite to initiate a motion of no confidence is the key to whether the new government can survive. marine le pen, leader of the far-right party "national rally", is believed to hold the fate of the new government in her hands. however, according to an online poll initiated by le figaro, as of press time, about 55% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the new government of barnier.
“now get to work!”
the new french government includes 19 ministers, 15 ministerial deputies and 5 state secretaries, a total of 39 members. according to agence france-presse, of the four important ministerial positions of economy, interior, defense and foreign affairs, only the defense minister remains in office, while the other three departments have new ministers. there are many new faces in the new government, but they all have one thing in common: they are unlikely to participate in the 2027 french presidential election and "will not overshadow macron." however, by then, macron, who has served two terms, will not be able to run.
according to radio france internationale, the national assembly split into three irreconcilable groups after the july elections: the left-wing coalition "new popular front" which has the most seats but has not entered the government, the second-ranked ruling party coalition "together" and the extreme right-wing group in the position of "referee". after rejecting the prime minister candidate proposed by the left, macron decided to join forces with the right. on september 5, macron appointed veteran right-wing politician and republican barnier as the new prime minister and tasked him with forming a new government, ending the country's unprecedented "governmentless" state of more than 50 days. according to reports, after two weeks of negotiations, the new government team was formed in the struggle and pain of all parties. its members are mainly centrists and right-wingers. the only one from the left is the new minister of justice migo, who was a member of the socialist party and had previously retired from politics and was unknown to the public.
le figaro said that among the 39 members of the new government, 12 belong to the renaissance party (macron's party), and 7 are full ministers, the most among all parties; the right-wing forces have returned strongly, and the republican party, to which prime minister barnier belongs, has obtained 10 positions, of which 3 are full ministers. the report said that since sarkozy stepped down as president in 2012, the republican party has never obtained so many positions. in addition, the addition of 4 "independent right-wing" people has further consolidated the right-wing color of the new government. barnier posted on the social platform x on the evening of the 21st: "we have a team! let's get to work now!" the french presidential palace announced that the first meeting of the new cabinet is scheduled for september 23.
other political forces expressed dissatisfaction
almost at the same time as the list was released, other political forces in french politics expressed dissatisfaction.
agence france-presse said that the new government formed by barnier has been under pressure since the first day of his inauguration on the 21st. jean-michel mélenchon, leader of the far-left party "france unbowed", said that the new government "has neither legitimacy nor a future and must be overthrown as soon as possible" and "barnier is destined to fail in the national assembly, may suffer setbacks on the budget, and fall due to a motion of no confidence."
baldeira, the leader of the far-right national rally, which holds important seats in the new parliament, criticized the new government, saying it marked the "return of macronism through the back door" and that it was a "government with no future". the party's leader marine le pen said: "the french people have made it clear in the last two elections that they want to get rid of the failure of macronism in the past seven years, but the reorganized government tonight completely deviates from the voters' expectations for change and rotation." she said she would "prepare for a big rotation to get france back on its feet."
french magazine le point described the new government as a "quasi-shadow government". the media commented: "since the european parliament elections, political scientists have repeatedly pointed out that the country has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the owner of the elysee palace and that the approval rating has fallen to the bottom. the government should at least send some signals to show that they have heard the voice of the voters. however, the reality is disappointing."
according to afp, before the list of new government members was announced, thousands of supporters of left-wing parties took to the streets of paris and other places on the 21st to hold protests, condemning the government for denying the results of the july election.
the washington post stated that since the end of the july election, france has only had an acting government and no party group has won a majority of seats. the long-term uncertainty has left france without direction, unable to advance the 2025 budget, or take action to address the ballooning budget deficit. the window period has also led to increasing hostility among the parties. none of the 39 members newly announced by the french government are from the "national rally", and the "new people's front" is also excluded. the report quoted analysts as saying that this is the first time that the "national rally" has had such a great influence in government negotiations. since the french left is firmly opposed to the new government, if the "national rally" chooses to vote in favor of the motion of no confidence, the barnier government may collapse at any time.
“be prepared for chaos”
the british broadcasting corporation (bbc) said on the 22nd that although the left-wing alliance won a majority of seats in the french parliament, the new government lineup marked a decisive shift in france to the right.
"this is a political reality," le figaro quoted political scientist benjamin morel as saying that macronism is gradually leaning to the right, but this rightward shift does not mean the demise of macronism. "the core dna of macronism has always been the economy, while state affairs are more of an adjustment variable." he pointed out that as long as the ministry of finance remains in the hands of representatives of the presidential camp, macronism can be integrated with the right wing.
les echos commented that in the current political situation, barnier, a "master negotiator", may indeed be the best candidate for prime minister. he once spent 10 months to reach an agreement with the british on brexit, but this time, he only took two weeks to reach an agreement with the leaders of various parties and formed a fragile coalition government. "this political deal is like the 'yalta conference', which is a division of power and territory."
barnier will deliver a speech at the opening of the french national assembly on october 1. les echos said on the 21st that he will have 10 days to draft a government work plan and get the seven coalition parties to agree. "let us wish the new team good luck, it will end the 65-day anarchy. as general charles de gaulle said, 'the party system is chaos', and we should also be prepared for chaos."
