Without revealing names, French Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Thursday accelerated the formation of his government, which he was to discuss with President Emmanuel Macron in the evening and could present as early as Friday. His team should include 38 ministers, including 16 full-time ministers.
Michel Barnier will propose to the head of state “a government ready to act in the service of the French people”, his services assured.
Previously, he outlined the architecture of his team and the broad outlines of his future action during a meeting presented as decisive on Thursday with the political forces of the right and the center likely to participate.
Coming from the right, the former European Commissioner, appointed on September 5 by Mr. Macron, had put pressure on his partners, who were raising the stakes and whom he brought together for nearly two hours, assuring that these were the “last” consultations for the “rapid” formation of a government.
In search of a difficult governmental balance, Mr. Barnier said he envisaged a government of 38 ministers, 16 of whom would be full ministers, including seven members of Mr. Macron’s party, three from the right (Les Républicains), two centrists (MoDem), one Horizons and one UDI (centre-right parties), reported the leader of the deputies of Mr. Macron’s party, Gabriel Attal, to the elected representatives of his group.
While he is struggling to find left-wing personalities, from whom he has been refused several times, only one “miscellaneous left” figure among these full ministers.
Mr. Barnier also provided details on the issues that had fueled tensions with his partners. The head of government affirmed that he would not increase taxes for the middle classes, according to several participants.
This commitment on taxation is “vital for us,” declared Gabriel Attal, the outgoing Prime Minister. The “Macronist” deputies had threatened not to participate in a government planning tax increases despite the slippage of debt and deficits and the delicate preparation of the 2025 budget.
On immigration, another delicate issue, Michel Barnier wanted to implement the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, according to a participant.
Improving public services
According to a press release from his services, Michel Barnier stated that he intended to “improve the standard of living of the French and the functioning of public services, particularly schools and health, guarantee security, control immigration and advance integration.”
He also wants to “encourage [les] companies and [les] farmers and strengthen the economic attractiveness of France, control [les] public finances and reduce ecological debt”.
The new head of the French government believes that the parties met on Thursday are “ready to support the action” of his future government.
Emmanuel Macron, who claims not to want to interfere in the composition of the government, received Michel Barnier on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. According to the reports that are leaking, their lunch on Tuesday went badly.
The Prime Minister said on Wednesday that he had discovered a “very serious budgetary situation”. France, along with several other member countries of the European Union, is the subject of a European procedure for excessive deficits.
Time is running out on the budget, whose timetable has been delayed by the dissolution of the National Assembly – the lower house of parliament – on June 9 and the very late appointment of a new prime minister.
The draft “finance law” for 2025 is supposed to be presented to Parliament at the beginning of October, “then the national medium-term budget plan that the government must transmit to the (European) Commission a few days later”, recalled the first president of the French Court of Auditors, Pierre Moscovici, on Wednesday.