France’s new PM Michel Barnier tells his cabinet: ‘No theatrics – focus on action’

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

France’s new prime minister Michel Barnier – meeting his cabinet ministers together for the first time on Monday – has told them to focus on action rather than stunts as he sought to change voters’ perceptions that previous governments had been too arrogant.

The cabinet was appointed at the weekend after president Emmanuel Macron and Mr Barnier struggled to put together a team following a snap election in early July that delivered a hung parliament.

“Focus on action rather than talk,” his office quoted Mr Barnier as telling the ministers ahead of an afternoon cabinet meeting. “No theatrics.”

Mr Barnier said they must show respect for all their compatriots and political parties, listen to everyone and be humble.

Opinion polls and elections have for years shown that voters are unhappy with Mr Macron’s top-down style of power.

While an alliance of left-wing parties topped the July election and the far-right National Rally (RN) was the single party with the most votes, Mr Macron’s centrists eventually struck a deal with the centre-right and conservatives to form a government.

The ministers in Mr Barnier’s new cabinet, including the finance and budget ministers, are mostly little known to the French public and many have little political clout.

One exception is the new interior minister Bruno Retailleau, 63, a veteran of the Republicans (LR) conservative party, and a driving force behind the party’s rightward shift.

“The French people want more order – order in the streets, order at the borders,” Mr Retailleau said as he took office.

He said he would be hard on those who attack or disrespect politicians – and would also take a tough stance on antisemitism.

Mr Retailleau has long called for much stricter policies on immigration but on Monday he did not spell out what his policies on that front would be.

How stable the new government will be, and whether it will manage to get reforms adopted by parliament, remains to be seen.

The RN is in a kingmaker position after it gave tacit support to Mr Barnier’s premiership but reserved the right to back out if its concerns over immigration, security and other issues were not met.

“We will be the ones deciding whether this government has a future or not,” RN lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy told France Inter radio, adding that they would wait to see what Mr Barnier will announce in his speech scheduled for 1 October.

Mr Barnier on Sunday opened the door to raising taxes on France’s wealthiest individuals and some big corporations to help close a gaping hole in the public finances, but said he would protect the lower and middle classes.

Despite the entry of 10 politicians from the Republicans in cabinet, Mr Macron kept a number of outgoing ministers in key posts. Only one left-wing politician joined the cabinet, Didier Migaud as justice minister.

Mr Barnier argued that the deal made by his conservative allies and Mr Macron’s centrists will allow them to have a bigger support at the National Assembly.

Mr Barnier, a 73-year-old political veteran known for his role as the EU’s Brexit negotiator, is no stranger to complex political tasks.

“We’ll make compromises,” he said. “That’s how I managed to unite the EU 27 countries during the Brexit negotiations.”

Mr Barnier also insisted there will be “no controversy” between him and Mr Macron despite both coming from a different political background, because “that’s the interest of the country”.

Reuters and Associated Press