French President Emmanuel Macron appointed a new cabinet on Saturday in a move that marks a major shift to the right, leaving the country deeply divided and with more than two months to form a government and uncertain prospects for long-term stability.
The announcement from the French presidency came two weeks after Macron appointed veteran centre-right politician Michel Barnier as prime minister in an attempt to break the political deadlock that has paralysed France since this summer’s inconclusive parliamentary elections.
The new cabinet includes centrist lawmakers from Mr Macron’s party and its allies as well as right-wing politicians from Mr Barnier’s Republicans, some of whom hold key positions — a revival of France’s mainstream conservatives who were largely ignored during Mr Macron’s presidency.
“Team!” Barnier said on X after the announcement. “Now, let’s get to work!”
Mr. Barnier’s drawn-out negotiations to forge a workable coalition with a divided parliament have strained his relationship with Mr. Macron, who has said the prime minister is free to proceed with selecting his cabinet. The talks also revealed the extent of political divisions that could at any moment threaten to undermine the new government.
The delay marks the longest deliberations in the history of the Fifth Republic, the longest time it has taken for a president to nominate a prime minister. Agreeing on the budget will be the government’s top priority amid growing international concern and a ballooning national debt and budget deficit.
According to the French Constitution, the president elects the prime minister and appoints ministers on the prime minister’s recommendation.
In this summer’s election, the left-wing coalition came out on top with 193 seats in the 577-seat lower house. Mr. Macron’s centrist party and its allies slumped to 165 seats, while Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rally National and its allies surged to 142. Mr. Barnier’s conservative Republicans languished in fourth place with 47 seats, further complicating the prime minister’s task.
With the left ruthlessly opposed to the new coalition and furious that Macron is ignoring the election results they won, Mr. Barnier’s government could fall at any time if the Rally National decides to join the no-confidence vote. In effect, Mr. Barnier would govern with the blessing of Ms. Le Pen and her protégé, Jordan Bardella, who was quick to suggest on Saturday that he had no intention of helping Mr. Barnier.
Regarding X, National Coalition leader Bardella said the government was the result of “pathetic political maneuvering and calculations” and that it had “no future.”
Mr. Barnier’s concern to silence the far right is reflected in his choice of Bruno Littelot, a hardline conservative senator from his own party, for the key post of interior minister. Mr. Littelot has in the past used the phrase “paper French” to imply he is the descendant of recent French immigrants rather than of ancestral French nationals — a theme dear to some members of the xenophobic National Rally. Mr. Littelot is also one of the few nationally well-known members of the new cabinet, which includes many faces unfamiliar to the French public.
Mr Macron wanted the broadest possible coalition to ensure stability, but Mr Barnier struggled to bring moderate Socialists into his cabinet, which includes just one figure from the left: Didier Migaud, a former Socialist politician and former head of France’s public auditing agency, who was appointed Minister of Justice.
Some right-wing heavyweights from the previous government kept their jobs, including Culture Minister Rachida Dati and Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
But others have left.
Former interior minister Gerard Darmanin, who had sought the foreign affairs job to broaden his eligibility to run for president when Macron’s term expires in 2027, angered Mr Barnier by saying he would not accept tax increases.
Bruno Le Maire, a former economy and finance minister, is also a presidential contender but, like many others, was surprised and disillusioned by Macron’s sudden decision in June to dissolve parliament.
Jean-Noël Barrot, a centrist who had been a junior minister for European affairs, was promoted to foreign minister. The new economy and finance minister is Antoine Armand, 33, a little-known member of Mr Macron’s party who had chaired the lower house’s economics committee.
The government, led by Barnier, 73, a former European commissioner and foreign minister who has sought to distance himself from Macron, faces two major tests in the coming weeks.
Mr. Barnier must lay out his vision for France in a policy speech that could be followed by a vote of no confidence by his opponents. The New Popular Front, a fragile left-wing coalition that includes the moderate Socialist party and the hardline France Invincible, is still angry at Mr. Macron’s refusal to let it choose a governing leader.
Left-wing demonstrators took to the streets in Paris and other cities on Saturday to protest against the new government, chanting “what does the vote mean?”
“This government is illegitimate,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a left-wing leader and founder of Indomitable France, told reporters at a protest in Marseille.
But the left’s own dogmatism and divisions have played a major role in its failure to perform well in elections: historically, only the moderate left has been able to forge enough consensus to govern under presidents François Mitterrand and François Hollande.
If the new government survives a no-confidence vote, it must rush to pass a budget by the end of the year – but agreeing how to cut spending and potentially raise taxes while avoiding widespread social protests is a delicate matter.
Macron has said he will govern as the republic’s arbiter and guarantor, rather than the top-down commander role he has played since taking office in 2017.
But tensions with Barnier are already rising, particularly over Macron’s appointment of former Foreign Minister Stephane Séjourne as France’s European Union commissioner without consulting Barnier, who was involved in Brexit negotiations and considers European issues his area of expertise.
Friction has also been apparent over what Macron’s centrists see as a rightward shift in the new government, with Macron ally Sophie Herranty quitting the centrist parliamentary coalition on Friday in protest.
Of the 39 ministers, 14 are from the Republican or right-wing parties, 19 from centre-right parties including Macron or parties linked to him, and the rest, except for Migaud, are from smaller parties or independents.
Economic policy will inevitably be a contentious issue, and Mr Macron is determined to maintain his business-friendly tradition. Several of his allies were infuriated last week when French media leaked information that Mr Barnier was considering raising taxes on the wealthy and certain companies.
