By using this website you agree that we use cookies. You can find out more in the privacy policy.
Bombay Durpun - France's new PM constructs cabinet under far right shadow
-
-
Choose a language
Automatically close in : 3
Wie gewohnt mit Werbung lesen
Nutzen Sie Bombay Durpun mit personalisierter Werbung, Werbetracking, Nutzungsanalyse und externen Multimedia-Inhalten. Details zu Cookies und Verarbeitungszwecken sowie zu Ihrer jederzeitigen Widerrufsmöglichkeit finden Sie unten, im Cookie-Manager sowie in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
Use Bombay Durpun with personalised advertising, ad tracking, usage analysis and external multimedia content. Details on cookies and processing purposes as well as your revocation option at any time can be found below, in the cookie manager as well as in our privacy policy.
Utilizar Bombay Durpun con publicidad personalizada, seguimiento de anuncios, análisis de uso y contenido multimedia externo. Los detalles sobre las cookies y los propósitos de procesamiento, así como su opción de revocación en cualquier momento, se pueden encontrar a continuación, en el gestor de cookies, así como en nuestra política de privacidad.
Utilisez le Bombay Durpun avec des publicités personnalisées, un suivi publicitaire, une analyse de l'utilisation et des contenus multimédias externes. Vous trouverez des détails sur les cookies et les objectifs de traitement ainsi que sur votre possibilité de révocation à tout moment ci-dessous, dans le gestionnaire de cookies ainsi que dans notre déclaration de protection des données.
Utilizzare Bombay Durpun con pubblicità personalizzata, tracciamento degli annunci, analisi dell'utilizzo e contenuti multimediali esterni. I dettagli sui cookie e sulle finalità di elaborazione, nonché la possibilità di revocarli in qualsiasi momento, sono riportati di seguito nel Cookie Manager e nella nostra Informativa sulla privacy.
Utilizar o Bombay Durpun com publicidade personalizada, rastreio de anúncios, análise de utilização e conteúdo multimédia externo. Detalhes sobre cookies e fins de processamento, bem como a sua opção de revogação em qualquer altura, podem ser encontrados abaixo, no Gestor de Cookies, bem como na nossa Política de Privacidade.
France's new right-wing prime minister Friday sought to cobble together a government capable of mustering parliament backing, as critics lambasted the president for turning the far right into a kingmaker after snap polls.
Text size:
Michel Barnier, a 73-year-old former foreign minister who recently acted as the European Union's Brexit negotiator, is the oldest premier in the history of modern France.
Consultations were going "very well" and were "full of energy", the veteran conservative politician told the press around midday before lunch with President Emmanuel Macron.
The country's centrist leader named the right-winger after snap polls in July intended to distance the far right from power backfired and plunged the country into two months of political deadlock.
Macron took the risk of dissolving parliament in June after the far right trounced his alliance in European elections.
But the results saw Macron's centrist alliance lose its relative majority in the lower-house National Assembly.
A left-wing alliance emerged as France's biggest political force, but without enough seats for an overall majority.
Instead the anti-immigration far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen became the single largest party in the lower chamber of the European Union's second largest economy.
The RN has the most votes in any confidence motion, followed by Macron's centrist group.
- Under far-right 'surveillance' -
After rejecting a candidate suggested by the left-wing alliance, Macron chose Barnier to replace 35-year-old Gabriel Attal -- a centrist half his age who was the country's first openly gay premier.
Le Pen, who leads RN lawmakers in parliament, has said her party would not be part of the new cabinet, and would wait for Barnier's first policy speech in front of parliament to decide whether or not to back him.
The left in particular has reeled at Barnier's nomination and will likely seek to topple him in the lower house.
Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), accused Macron of "betraying" the voters who in the second round of the elections of July 7 had voted tactically to prevent the far right coming to power.
"It's a Macron-Le Pen government. It can only see the light of day because the National Rally has decided to give it its blessing," he told BFMTV, describing the three-time presidential candidate as a "kingmaker" for Macron.
Lucie Castets, the 37-year-old economist who the left wanted to become premier, told RTL she was "very angry".
"The president is placing himself in cohabitation with the National Rally," she said, vowing to table a motion of no confidence against Barnier.
Le Monde daily described Barnier as a "prime minister under the surveillance of the RN".
The left-leaning Liberation daily put a picture of Barnier on its front page with "approved by Marine Le Pen" as a rubber stamp.
- Education and immigration -
Barnier has pledged to take on his new task with "humility".
He said education, security and "immigration control" were his priorities and said he would be unafraid to speak the truth on the country's "financial debt", but also promised "change".
The LR leader in the lower house, Laurent Wauquiez, told the press his party had conditioned any participation in the cabinet on Barnier's intended policies.
"We want to lift France out of the impasse," he said.
"But we will only do so with a programme that guarantees the preoccupations of French are addressed."