France | New Prime Minister Already Under Fire From Left and Far Right

(Paris) Newly appointed French Prime Minister Michel Barnier came under fire on Saturday from the left, which had called for a demonstration to denounce “a coup de force”, and from the far right, which said it was placing him “under surveillance”.

It is a baptism of fire for Michel Barnier, 73, former chief negotiator of the European Union for Brexit and member of the right-wing party Les Républicains, finally chosen by President Emmanuel Macron to form the next government, almost two months after the legislative elections and at the end of a long suspense.

A few days after his appointment, he had to face demonstrations called by La France Insoumise (radical left), notably in Paris where a procession brought together 26,000 people according to the police, 160,000 according to the organizers.

On Saturday evening, the authorities counted 110,000 demonstrators in the country, compared to 300,000 according to the initiators of the movement.

Anger was initially directed against Emmanuel Macron and his “democratic coup”, in the words of the initiators of the march, furious at not seeing Lucie Castets appointed to Matignon, a candidate of a united left within the New Popular Front, with 193 deputies and having come out on top in the legislative elections.

However, no absolute majority emerged from the early vote in July, leaving the National Assembly divided into three blocs: left, centre right and far right.

“Democracy is not only the art of accepting having won, it is also the humility of accepting losing,” declared the Insoumis patriarch Jean-Luc Mélenchon to Emmanuel Macron, perched on a truck in the procession in the capital.

“What Macron is offering us is not cohabitation, it is a provocation,” environmentalist leader Marine Tondelier said on BFMTV, promising not to “resign” herself, since the rally in Lille (North) – one of 150 called for in the country.

Geneviève, a 68-year-old retiree marching in the streets of Marseille (South-East), said she was outraged by a “huge denial of democracy that is saturating the population”. “We haven’t felt heard for months, it’s no longer possible”.

The major trade unions and the Socialist Party (PS) did not relay the call to demonstrate on Saturday.

The French presidency assured that the choice of Michel Barnier had been dictated by his capacity to “bring together the broadest possible audience” in a fragmented political landscape.

But in the Parisian procession, Alexandra Germain, 44, project manager, appeared bitter: “it’s a dictatorship that is being put in place.”

“Under surveillance”

The pressure did not come only from the left on Saturday. The president of the National Rally (RN, far right) Jordan Bardella demanded of Mr. Barnier that “the subjects of the National Rally” be taken into account by a future government labeled as “fragile.”

Although the RN has so far made it known that it would judge Mr Barnier “on the evidence” and did not intend to try to overthrow him in the National Assembly before knowing the content of his programme, the tone has hardened, with the party exploiting its contingent of 126 deputies (142 with its allies).

“We will undoubtedly have a role as arbitrator in the coming months and starting today,” recalled the leader of the RN.

“I believe that from this day on, Mr Barnier is a prime minister under surveillance. […] of a political party which is now essential in the parliamentary game,” he added, while assuring later on TF1 that he did not want to participate “in institutional disorder and democratic chaos.”

“I am under the surveillance of all French people,” retorted Mr Barnier on the sidelines of his first trip as head of government, to the Necker hospital in Paris.

Addressing the left, he rejected the words “coup de force, which should not be used”. “We are not in that state of mind: the spirit is to rally around a government action project,” he further argued.