Prime Minister Michel Barnier addressed parliament on Tuesday afternoon as he outlined his government’s policy programme. The priority, explained Barnier, was to tackle France’s ‘colossal’ debt of 3.2 trillion (£2.7 trillion) euros, which has left the Republic with the ‘sword of Damocles hanging over the head of France and every French person’.
The gravity of the crisis still doesn’t seem to be getting through to many MPs, who continue to behave like spoiled brats
Barnier declared his intention to reduce the public deficit from 6 per cent of GDP to 5 per cent by next year, and to 3 per cent by 2029 – two years beyond the 2027 deadline imposed by the EU.
There were also pledges, without going into specifics, to address the twin crises of mass immigration and insecurity, which, like spending, has been allowed to spiral out of control under President Macron.
One suspects that Barnier has been shocked by the levels of incompetency he has encountered in Macron’s administration since his appointment last month. Nothing works. Everything is broken. As Barnier told reporters last month, France is facing a ‘very serious’ situation.
The gravity of the crisis still doesn’t seem to be getting through to many MPs, who continue to behave like spoiled brats. As Barnier began his address to parliament, MPs from the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) waved their voter cards in his direction to indicate that in their view their election victory in July had been stolen. At least it makes a change from waving Palestinian flags, as has been their wont this year.
Barnier later addressed some remarks to Mathilde Panot, the parliamentary leader of LFI. ‘Madame, I’m having a little trouble understanding your tone and your aggressiveness,’ he told her with a smile. ‘The more aggressive you are, the more respectful I’ll be.’
She wasn’t the only MP to be courteously cut down to size. Gabriel Attal, the former PM who now leads Macron’s Renaissance party, made the mistake of dishing out some economic advice to his successor. ‘I will be very attentive to your proposals for additional savings,’ replied Barnier, which elicited from Attal a smug nod of his head. Barnier then added: ‘to deal with a deficit that I found when I arrived.’ The Assembly roared with laughter as the smirk was wiped from Attal’s face.
Barnier also poked fun at the Greens and Eric Ciotti, an ally of Marine Le Pen’s, on an afternoon when he made plain his disdain for the childish antics and petty points scoring that have characterised the National Assembly since Macron came to power.
The man himself has slipped into the shadows, albeit grudgingly, if the reports are to be believed. ‘Let them sort out the mess!’ Emmanuel Macron is purported to have told one of his trusted MPs who was invited to lunch recently at the Élysée.
Macron presided over the Council of Ministers on Tuesday morning, the second of the Barnier government. Hitherto, this meeting has been held in an Elysée building but since Barnier took office the venue has been switched to a government property. According to Barnier’s office, the change of location was a ‘mutual decision’.
Macron opened the council but his arrogance and eloquence was gone. ‘His opening remarks were really just two sentences,’ one of those present told Le Figaro. Neither of those sentences offered support to Barnier and his new government.
Macron is going to have to learn to preside while Barnier governs. It will be a novel experience for a president who since taking office in 2017 has combined the two roles.
When his first premier, Édouard Philippe, became a little too accomplished in the role in 2020 he was sacked. Macron then appointed a succession of what the French call béni-oui-oui (yes-men) in Jean Castex, Elisabeth Borne and Gabriel Attal. Between them their incompetence has led France, in the words of Barnier in his address to parliament, ‘to the edge of the precipice’.
One can understand Macron’s resentment at his reduced status. Wasn’t this the man who was going to lead France and the West into the sunlit progressive uplands after the horrors of Trump and Brexit?
Not that Macron doesn’t still have a busy schedule. Today he will be in Berlin attending an economic forum, and it is expected he will have talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It’s unlikely to be an uplifting discussion. ‘For once, France and Germany are aligned, not necessarily for good reasons,’ remarked Paul Maurice, of the French Institute of International Relations. ‘The two domestic political situations mean that both leaders are weakened. They’re having difficulty taking initiatives and moving forward.’ Once German and France were the engines of the EU; now they are its sick men, afflicted by crippling economic and social woes.
At the end of this week Macron will host the 19th Francophonie Summit in Paris and according to the Elysée there are plans for him to get out and about more in France and meet the people. Is that wise? Whenever Macron shows his face in public in France he is jeered, mocked or slapped.
In 2017 Macron was elected president with a promise to reinvigorate the country and lead it into a glorious new era. Instead, he has led France down the garden path and to the edge of the precipice.
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