After more than two months without a functioning government, France’s new cabinet got to work Monday. How long it will remain in office is unclear.
French politics have been in limbo since inconclusive snap legislative elections in late June and early July. The elections saw a leftist coalition win the most votes and the far-right National Rally emerging as the largest party. Only now, after the Paris Olympics, has a new center-right government been named, which doesn’t include either of these two blocs.
On national TV Sunday night, conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier outlined some broad priorities. He called for controlling and limiting immigration, saying the number of migrants arriving in France had become unbearable.
His new interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, strongly advocates tighter migration controls.
Barnier also called for what he described as a “national effort,” including taxes on the rich to cut the country’s budget deficit, which is well over the European Union limit. But he said he would not touch social changes like gay marriage and a recent move to enshrine abortion freedoms in the French constitution.
Barnier’s new government is already feeling pressure. Thousands demonstrated in Paris even before his cabinet was named.
Far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon warned Barnier’s government had no future — a warning picked up by the far right. The left has vowed a no-confidence motion, but analysts say it isn’t likely to succeed.
