Tensions are rising between the Prime Minister, the Macronists and the Republicans. The left, for its part, is observing the situation from a distance.
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Two weeks after his appointment to Matignon, Michel Barnier still has not managed to form his government. Tensions are rising between the LR Prime Minister and the Macronists. They are demanding a “clarification” of his political line. They are very upset after Michel Barnier mentioned – to several interlocutors – tax increases for the “very high income”. The interested party responds that the “very serious budgetary situation” of France deserves “better than little phrases”. All this, under the gaze of the left.
A Communist Party cadre admits: he observes this situation “with a certain delight.” Emmanuel Macron ruled out a New Popular Front government on the grounds that it would be censored, and now his Prime Minister Michel Barnier is finding it difficult to build a majority. “Irony of history”, jokes an ecologist MP who remembers the barbs against the left-wing coalition: “It was said that it was the marriage of the carp and the rabbit, but here, for the divisions, we are served with this cobbled-together alliance of the rights!”
One of her comrades within the party already acknowledges that “the search for stability has failed.” But without rejoicing: “Distrust of politics is already very high, people are holding out their sticks to get beaten.” A communist executive is also worried: “Nothing good is going to come out of this.”
Which does not prevent the left from thinking that it will be good for its business. A close friend of Jean-Luc Mélenchon believes that the Prime Minister is at an impasse. “It’s a mess in Macron’s party, a mess in the LR party. They’re in deep shit.”she notes. But for now, the NFP is observing the standoff between Michel Barnier and the Macronists. “The cards are not in our hands anyway,” admits a communist tenor. The fact remains that at this stage, “We don’t know when there will be a government, or even if there will be a government,” sums up a socialist MP.
“What if the Prime Minister resigns before a government is formed?” asks his environmentalist colleague, who says to herself that in any case, even if he managed to put together a team, “It won’t hold, we can see that this alliance is too fragile.” She is preparing for a return to square one, that is to say a position to fill at Matignon. “I don’t know if it will be for the left but unlike them we are ready,” boasts a Communist Party cadre.