https://sputnikglobe.com/20240906/an-affront-to-the-democratic-will-macron-pushes-through-pm-pick-after-60-days-1120048204.html
'An Affront to the Democratic Will': Macron Pushes Through PM Pick After 60 Days
'An Affront to the Democratic Will': Macron Pushes Through PM Pick After 60 Days
Sputnik International
Macron is most likely trying to break through a political impasse that has gripped France following the country’s indecisive, snap legislative elections.
2024-09-06T00:52+0000
2024-09-06T00:52+0000
2024-09-06T00:52+0000
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emmanuel macron
michel barnier
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President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Michel Barnier, 73, a veteran right-wing politician who served twice as European Commissioner and played a major role in the 2016 Brexit Task Force, as the new prime minister of France as of Thursday. Macron is trying to break through a political impasse that has gripped France following the country’s snap legislative elections held in July.The French presidency said in a statement that Macron is entrusting Barnier with “the task of forming a unity government to serve the country and the French people”, the New York Times reported. Barnier will take over the role from Gabriel Attal, France’s youngest ever prime minister who has held the position for the last eight months.Phil Kelly, a Belfast-based political commentator and socialist activist, joined Sputnik’s Political Misfits Thursday to discuss Macron’s continued rejection of the French public’s desires.“What Macron is doing is he's investing heavily in creating future problems because France is a powder keg. It is divided. The breakthrough for the left was good to see, but let's hope it's not a pyrrhic victory because what acts like this are doing is it just erodes faith that people have in their democratic institutions,” he added.In March of last year France’s Senate passed a controversial reform bill to raise the retirement age for French citizens by two years. The Senate passed the bill by 195 votes to 112. Macron’s decision to push through a bill that is extremely unpopular among voters for the alleged sake of the economy clearly went unforgiven during July’s election. Business-friendly think tanks such as the pro-Macron Institut Montaigne claim Macron’s pension plan is more cost-effective than other proposals, but a majority of French voters reject the ploy.“Macron [is] a guy who's deeply unpopular, who, at one point, was talking up the advantage of World War III to the French people, now clinging on desperately to power, trying to make the guy who lost who came forth the leader of the country and all, as you say, to cling on to his own power for a little bit longer and to try and push through a policy that is so deeply unpopular.”In January, Macron claimed during a speech at the Swedish Defense Academy that the future security architecture of the continent could no longer be settled simply by the United States and that Europe should determine its own future.In April, the French president said he would be willing to discuss using French nuclear warheads as a “credible European defense” against a supposed Russian threat. The French president previously hinted at the use of France’s nuclear weapons in 2020 and again in 2022. In March the leader alarmed other EU member states when he announced his openness to ground operations in Ukraine, saying it might be required “at some point”.“It's not, unfortunately, only France that has this kind of political class,” Kelly added. “[There was] one of the ministers in the German government who's a member of the Green Party saying — I'm sure you remember this — ‘I don't care about German voters, I'll do whatever it takes to support Ukraine.’”Macron delayed appointing a new prime minister for a record period of time following a narrow victory for the leftwing New Popular Front in July. Over 80 lawmakers have signed a resolution calling for Macron to step down in the weeks since. The resolution was triggered by Macron’s decision to reject the New Popular Front’s candidacy of Lucie Castets for prime minister, even though the coalition won the most seats in July’s elections.
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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240319/macron-trying-to-go-backwards-to-days-of-imperial-france-1117419288.html
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'An Affront to the Democratic Will': Macron Pushes Through PM Pick After 60 Days
In July, Macron accepted Attal’s resignation following the electoral defeat of the president’s political party. The country has now been without a cabinet for 60 days.
President
Emmanuel Macron has appointed Michel Barnier, 73, a veteran right-wing politician who served twice as European Commissioner and played a major role in the 2016 Brexit Task Force, as the new prime minister of France as of Thursday. Macron is trying to break through a political impasse that has gripped France following the country’s snap legislative elections held in July.
The French presidency said in a statement that Macron is entrusting Barnier with “the task of forming a unity government to serve the country and the French people”, the
New York Times reported. Barnier will take over the role from Gabriel Attal, France’s youngest ever prime minister who has held the position for the last eight months.
Phil Kelly, a Belfast-based political commentator and socialist activist, joined Sputnik’s Political Misfits Thursday to discuss Macron’s continued rejection of the French public’s desires.
“This is far from democracy. This is an absurdity,” said Kelly. “It's like a husband and wife debating over which electrician to hire to redo the wiring in your house not being able to come to an agreement and hiring a plumber. It's an affront, an absolute affront to the democratic will of the people.”
“What Macron is doing is he's investing heavily in creating future problems because France is a powder keg. It is divided. The breakthrough for the left was good to see, but let's hope it's not a pyrrhic victory because what acts like this are doing is it just erodes faith that people have in their democratic institutions,” he added.
“It's a further sign that France is in dissent and chaos, that its establishment is flailing, that Macron is just trying to hold the door against change,” the analyst suggested. “But that change will come to France and I hope it's a positive change, but there's no guarantee there will be. The country's in a dark way.”
In March of last year France’s Senate passed a controversial reform bill to raise the retirement age for French citizens by two years. The Senate passed the bill by 195 votes to 112. Macron’s decision to push through a bill that is extremely unpopular among voters for the alleged sake of the economy clearly went unforgiven during July’s election. Business-friendly think tanks such as the pro-Macron Institut Montaigne claim Macron’s pension plan is more cost-effective than other proposals, but a majority of French voters reject the ploy. “A country that is able to send billions of euros to the Kiev regime while its own citizens are offered a diet of, ‘we make you work longer for less’... and it's a bit like from his gilded palace in Paris. He's a bit like Macron Antoinette,” Kelly said.
“Macron [is] a guy who's deeply unpopular, who, at one point, was talking up the advantage of World War III to the French people, now clinging on desperately to power, trying to make the guy who lost who came forth the leader of the country and all, as you say, to cling on to his own power for a little bit longer and to try and push through a policy that is so deeply unpopular.”
In January, Macron claimed during a speech at the Swedish Defense Academy that the future security architecture of the continent could no longer be settled simply by the United States and that Europe should determine its own future.
In April, the French president said he would be willing to discuss using French nuclear warheads as a “credible European defense” against a supposed Russian threat. The French president previously hinted at the use of France’s nuclear weapons in 2020 and again in 2022. In March the leader alarmed other EU member states when he announced his openness to ground operations in Ukraine, saying it might be required “at some point”. “It's not, unfortunately, only France that has this kind of political class,” Kelly added. “[There was] one of the ministers in the German government who's a member of the Green Party saying — I'm sure you remember this — ‘I don't care about German voters, I'll do whatever it takes to support Ukraine.’”
“This is why Europe is in decline. Much like your country where the political establishment has [nothing to] offer, it has no vision of how to move things forward, it only has 'how can we trick the electorate in the next election and then just do the same [thing],’” he explained.
Macron delayed appointing a new prime minister for a record period of time following a narrow victory for the leftwing New Popular Front in July. Over 80 lawmakers have signed a resolution calling for Macron to step down in the weeks since. The resolution was triggered by Macron’s decision to reject the New Popular Front’s candidacy of Lucie Castets for prime minister, even though the coalition won the most seats in July’s elections.
“Macron is a fool. And he's a fool at the top of the hill at the minute. But he won't be there forever," said Kelly. "His day of reckoning will be coming. But he is sowing the seeds of a very, very bitter harvest in France because to destroy the public's faith in their democratic institutions so much, to support your own vanity project, is how democracies die.”
