Michel Barnier is the new French PM – so, what now?

“Thousands of angry left-wing protesters” took to the streets in France on Saturday in the “opening salvo” of what “could be weeks or months of demonstrations”, says The Observer. The protesters accused President Emmanuel Macron of a “denial of democracy” when he appointed the former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as prime minister, despite the fact that the left won the most seats in the recent elections and Barnier’s party won fewer than 50 MPs. 

The decision followed a two-month search for a PM, during which Macron ruled out the left’s preferred candidate (civil servant Lucie Castets) on the grounds that “she would be unable to muster enough cross-party support to form a stable government”.

Macron has pulled "a blinder"

The “absolute rage” being voiced by the French left suggests that Macron has “pulled a real blinder”, says The Telegraph. Barnier may be a “bit boring”, but unlike the alternatives, he won’t be immediately thrown out by a vote of no-confidence in France’s “new, unworkable parliament, with its three blocs of irreconcilable MPs”. Not having been seen on the “frankly unedifying” national political scene in recent years “is also an asset”, as is the fact that he ran for president two years ago on a “strong anti-unchecked immigration platform”. The selection of Barnier means that Macron has chosen “stability” over “revolutionary posturing”. 

MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

While the far left is raging at what it sees as an “unacceptable coup de force”, the far right’s Marine Le Pen “has perhaps never been more powerful”, says Gavin Mortimer in The Spectator. She reportedly vetoed Macron’s two original choices, former Socialist PM Bernard Cazeneuve and centrist Xavier Bertrand, instead insisting on someone “respectful of the different political forces” and capable of talking to Le Pen’s party, the National Rally. The fact that Barnier’s centrist government needs the support of her 143 MPs to survive the inevitable challenge from the left “will give her bargaining power in parliament”.

What's next for France?

The left could have prevented this state of affairs if it had been willing to compromise by joining Macron’s own bloc in a “broadly centrist coalition”, says Lee Hockstader in The Washington Post. 

It’s hard to dispute there is something “Faustian” about Macron’s pact, especially as Le Pen has said that she will hold the government hostage to her party’s “hard-line agenda”, especially on immigration. Le Pen’s status as a “kingmaker” also gives her “respectability”, as well as putting a “yawning breach” in the “firewall” that mainstream parties had built to keep her out of power. 

Barnier’s selection “closes one tense and heated chapter” but “opens another, which could be even more testing”, especially given the “pressing need for France to get its public finances in order”, says The Economist. The new PM “will have his work cut out” as he tries to appoint ministers, make the necessary budget cuts, appease the left and keep the hard right quiet, as well as calm the streets. He will also have to do all of this while dealing with Macron’s “irrepressible tendency to interfere in all decision-making”.

This article was first published in MoneyWeek's magazine. Enjoy exclusive early access to news, opinion and analysis from our team of financial experts with a MoneyWeek subscription.