#Luc Barnier

[genevieveetguy]

Six Days, Six Nights (À la folie), Diane Kurys (1994)

[parisphore]

Macron & Barnier sous le feu : 160 000 manifestants crient "Destitution" à Paris !

La nomination de Michel Barnier à Matignon n’a pas tardé à embraser la scène politique française. Ce 7 septembre 2024, des milliers de manifestants se sont rassemblés dans les rues de Paris, criant leur opposition à ce qu’ils qualifient de “coup de force” orchestré par Emmanuel Macron. Les slogans résonnaient dans la capitale : “Destitution !”, “Où est mon vote ?”, et “Déni de démocratie”.…

[zvaigzdelasas]

French President Emmanuel Macron has named Michel Barnier as prime minister almost two months after France's snap elections ended in political deadlock.[...]

A veteran of the right-wing Republicans (LR) party, he has had a long political career and filled various senior posts, both in France and within the EU.[...]

It has taken President Macron 60 days to make up his mind on choosing a prime minister, having called a "political truce" during the Paris Olympics

But Mr Barnier will need all his political skills to navigate the coming weeks, with the centre-left Socialists already planning to challenge his appointment with a vote of confidence.[...]

His nomination has already caused discontent within the New Popular Front (NFP), whose own candidate for prime minister was rejected by the president.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the radical France Unbowed (LFI) - the biggest of the four parties that make up the NFP - said the election had been "stolen from the French people".

Instead of coming from the the alliance that came first on 7 July, he complained that the prime minister would be "a member of a party that came last", referring to the Republicans.

"This is now essentially a Macron-Le Pen government," said Mr Mélenchon, referring to the leader of the far-right National Rally (RN).

He then called for people to join a left-wing protest against Mr Macron's decision planned for Saturday.

To survive a vote of confidence, Mr Barnier will need to persuade 289 MPs in the 577-seat National Assembly to back his government.

Marine Le Pen has made clear her party will not take part in his administration, but she said he at least appeared to meet National Rally's initial requirement, as someone who "respected different political forces".[...]

A recent opinion poll suggested that 51% of French voters thought the president should resign.

5 Sep 24

[plethoraworldatlas]

In cities and towns across France on Saturday, more than 100,000 people answered the call from the left-wing political party La France Insoumise for mass protests against President Emmanuel Macron's selection of a right-wing prime minister.

The demonstrations came two months after the left coalition won more seats than Macron's centrist coalition or the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) in the National Assembly and two days after the president announced that Michel Barnier, the right-wing former Brexit negotiator for the European Union, would lead the government.

The selection was made after negotiations between Macron and RN leader Marine Le Pen, leading protesters on Saturday to accuse the president of a "denial of democracy."

"Expressing one's vote will be useless as long as Macron is in power," a protester named Manon Bonijol toldAl Jazeera.

A poll released on Friday by Elabe showed that 74% of French people believed Macron had disregarded the results of July's snap parliamentary elections, and 55% said the election had been "stolen."

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France Insoumise (LFI), or France Unbowed, also accused Macron of "stealing the election" in a speech at the demonstration in Paris on Saturday.

"Democracy is not just the art of accepting you have won but the humility to accept you have lost," Mélenchon told protesters. "I call you for what will be a long battle."

He added that "the French people are in rebellion. They have entered into revolution."

Macron's centrist coalition won about 160 assembly seats out of 577 in July, compared to the left coalition's 180. The RN won about 140.

Barnier's Les Républicains (LR) party won fewer than 50 parliamentary seats. French presidents have generally named prime ministers, who oversee domestic policy, from the party with the most seats in the National Assembly.

Barnier signaled on Friday that he would largely defend Macron's pro-business policies and could unveil stricter anti-immigration reforms. Macron has enraged French workers and the left with policies including a retirement age hike last year.

[allthegeopolitics]

PARIS, France - Thousands of protesters took to the streets across France on Saturday, responding to a call from a far-left party leader who criticized as a “power grab” the president's appointment of a conservative new prime minister, Michel Barnier.

The protests directly challenged French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to bypass a prime minister from the far-left bloc following a deeply dividing —and divided — legislative election result in July. Authorities did not record a huge turnout nationwide.

The left, particularly the France Unbowed party, views Barnier’s conservative background as rejecting the electorate’s will, further intensifying the EU’s second economy’s already charged political atmosphere. Saturday's demonstrators denounced Barnier’s appointment as denying democracy, echoing France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon’s fiery rhetoric from recent days.

In Paris, protesters gathered at Place de la Bastille and tensions ran high as police prepared for potential clashes. Some carried placards reading “Where is my vote?” [...]

Continue Reading.

[warningsine]

French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Veteran politician Michel Barnie as prime minister on Thursday, September 5, after almost two months of deadlock following legislative elections that produced no clear majority in Parliament.

At 73, Barnier is the oldest premier in the history of modern France and has been tasked with forming "a unifying government in the service of the country," the presidency said in a statement. In a striking contrast, the former foreign minister succeeds Gabriel Attal, 35, a man less than half his age and who served only eight months in office.

A right-wing former minister and European commissioner, Barnier was the European Union's negotiator on Brexit. He has been all but invisible in French political life since failing to win his party's nomination to challenge Macron for the presidency in 2022.

France had been without a permanent government since the July 7 polls, in which the left formed the largest faction in a hung parliament with Macron's centrists and the far right comprising the other major groups. Amid the political deadlock Macron, who has less than three years of his term remaining, ran down the clock as the Olympics and Paralympics took place in Paris, to the growing frustration of opponents.

Radical left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon declared the "election has been stolen," after Barnier's appointment was announced. "It's not the Nouveau Front Populaire, which came out on top in the [legislative] elections, that will have the prime minister and the responsibility of standing before the deputies," reacted the La France Insoumise leader on his YouTube channel on Thursday.

Socialist leader Olivier Faure decried the decision as the beginning of "a regime crisis" in a post on X. "The democratic denial has reached its apogee: a prime minister from the party that came fourth and didn't even take part in the republican front [against the far right]. We're entering a regime crisis."

Macron's centrist faction and the far right make up the two other major groups in the Assemblée Nationale, finishing second and third respectively.

Far right to judge 'on evidence'

Conservative ex-minister Xavier Bertrand and former Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve had been seen as favorites in recent days. But both figures fell by the wayside with the mathematics of France's new parliament stacked against them. Both risked facing a no-confidence motion that could garner support from both the left bloc and the far right.

Macron appears to be counting on the far-right Rassemblement National of three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen not to block the appointment of Barnier. "We will wait to see Mr Barnier's policy speech" to parliament, said Le Pen, the leader in parliament of the RN, the party that holds the most seats in the lower house following July snap polls. RN party leader Jordan Bardella said Barnier would be judged "on evidence" when he addresses parliament.

Greens leader Marine Tondelier countered: "We know in the end who decides. Her name is Marine Le Pen. She is the one to whom Macron has decided to submit."

Record-length caretaker government

Never in the history of the Fifth Republic – which began with constitutional reform in 1958 – had France gone so long without a permanent government, leaving the previous administration led by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in place as caretakers.

To the fury of the left, Macron refused to accept the nomination of a left-wing premier, arguing such a figure would have no chance of surviving a confidence motion in parliament. France's left-wing New Popular Front alliance had demanded that the president pick their candidate Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old economist and civil servant with a history of left-wing activism.

The new prime minister will face the most delicate of tasks in seeking to agree legislation in a highly polarised Assemblée Nationale at a time of immense challenges. An October 1 deadline is now looming for the new government to file a draft budget law for 2025. With debts piling up to 110% of annual output, France has this year suffered a credit rating cut from Standard and Poor's and been told off by the European Commission for excessive deficits.

Barnier's "task looks tough, but difficulty has never scared him," said former prime minister Edouard Philippe, who earlier this week announced he would seek to succeed Macron in the next presidential election. Speaking to Le Figaro and using rugby parlance, Attal expressed hope his successor could "convert the try" of the policies whose implementation he could not complete during his time in office.

[byneddiedingo]

Dalida in The Sixth Day (Youssef Chahine, 1986)

Cast: Dalida, Mohsen Mohieddin, Shouweikar, Hamdy Ahmed, Sanaa Younes, Salah El-Saadany, Mohamed Mounir, Youssef Chahine, Abla Kamel, Hasan El-Adl, Maher Esam. Screenplay: Youssef Chahine, Hasan Al Geretly, based on a novel by Andrée Chedid. Cinematography: Mohsen Nasr. Production design: Tarek Salaheddine. Film editing: Luc Barnier. Music: Omar Khairat. 

The French-Italian pop star Dalida, who was born in Egypt, plays Saddika, a middle-aged woman living in a village during the cholera epidemic of 1947. She takes in washing to support her second husband, who is disabled, and her small grandson. Saddika catches the eye of Okka (Mohsen Mohieddine), who is 20 years younger. He's a street performer who works with a trained monkey, and he idolizes Gene Kelly -- to whom the film is dedicated. Okka doesn't have Kelly's talent as either a singer or a dancer, as a fanciful musical interlude demonstrates, but he is energetic in his wooing of Saddika. When her grandson is stricken with cholera, he helps her hide the child from the public health authorities. A bounty is awarded to anyone who reports a cholera victim, and the village is alive with people willing to snitch on their neighbors. Saddika may have good reason to conceal the boy's illness: The sick are taken to a site in the desert that is rumored to be nothing more than a death camp. The film's title comes from the belief that if you survive six days with the disease you're in the clear. Saddika and the boy end up on a river boat accompanied (reluctantly on her part) by Okka. The Sixth Day is mostly coherently narrated, and it has some fine moments of comedy and suspense, but it also contains some incidents that don't quite fit the main story. I'm not sure, for example, what's going on in a scene in which a drunken British soldier is hustled into a bright red car whose passengers are women. Dakka witnesses the incident, but it's not clear what it has to do with his story or Saddika's. I suspect that it's a scene in Andrée Chedid's novel that Youssef Chahine didn't quite integrate into his screenplay. 

[head-post]

300,000 thousand people sign Macron’s impeachment petition

More than 300,000 thousand people have signed a petition by the La France Insoumise (LFI) party calling for the impeachment of French President Emmanuel Macron, Brussels Signal reports.

The petition was designed to pressure French lawmakers to begin the process of impeaching Macron. LFI released the number of signatories on September 16. The petition’s website said:

By signing this petition, we ask the deputies and senators to vote in favour of the process to allow the return to a true democracy where the choices of the people are finally respected.

The party accused the president of “authoritarian” drift: he “refuses to accept the results of legislative elections and blocks the implementation of any programme other than his own.”

After national elections in June, Macron refused to appoint left-wing candidate Lucie Castets as prime minister, despite the left-wing coalition winning the most seats in parliament. Instead, the president chose right-wing candidate and former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier of the Republican Party.

The impeachment process, allowed by Article 68 of the French Constitution, is due to pass its first stage on September 17.

The highest collegiate body of the National Assembly, the executive bureau, must rule on the admissibility of the proposed impeachment procedure. The bureau may decide to launch the procedure because the Left Alliance has a majority in it – 12 out of 22 seats.

There are reportedly some divisions among leftist deputies, and the Socialists have rejected a similar proposal in the past.

On August 18, Olivier Faure, leader of the Socialist Party, distanced himself from the threat, stressing that the initiative came only from the LFI.

At the Fête de l’Humanité festival on September 14, where leftist leaders, activists and prominent figures from France and around the world gathered, LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon urged his allies not to block the procedure. He said:

We call on our NFP [left-wing coalition] allies to vote to send it [impeachment process] to the Law Commission. The only battles we are sure to lose are the ones we don’t fight.

The leftist party also called on supporters to join a call by youth branches of trade unions to hold a protest against the president on September 21.

Under French law, Macron can be removed from office “only in the event of a failure to fulfil his duties that is manifestly incompatible with the performance of his office.” If the impeachment process is initiated, it would seek to determine whether such non-performance has occurred.

Read more HERE

[januszen]

Macron y el Robo Democrático

Jean-Luc Mélenchon denuncia el robo democrático de Macron. ¿Qué futuro le espera a Francia? ¡Comparte tu opinión! #JeanLucMelenchon #Macron #PoliticaFrancesa

Macron traiciona la democracia: Mélenchon exige justicia Índice:Jean-Luc Mélenchon: El líder inesperadoUna crisis política sin precedentes¿Qué futuro le espera a Francia? Robo Democrático: Así es como Jean-Luc Mélenchon describe la reciente maniobra política de Emmanuel Macron al designar a Michel Barnier como Primer Ministro de Francia, a pesar de la derrota electoral de su propio partido. En…

[pletnet]

Macron y el Robo Democrático

Jean-Luc Mélenchon denuncia el robo democrático de Macron. ¿Qué futuro le espera a Francia? ¡Comparte tu opinión! #JeanLucMelenchon #Macron #PoliticaFrancesa

Macron traiciona la democracia: Mélenchon exige justicia Índice:Jean-Luc Mélenchon: El líder inesperadoUna crisis política sin precedentes¿Qué futuro le espera a Francia? Robo Democrático: Así es como Jean-Luc Mélenchon describe la reciente maniobra política de Emmanuel Macron al designar a Michel Barnier como Primer Ministro de Francia, a pesar de la derrota electoral de su propio partido. En…

[genevieveetguy]

A Whole Night (Toute une nuit), Chantal Akerman (1982)

[mynewshq]

Thousands protest in France over Macron's choice of PM

More than 100,000 people protested across France on Saturday against the appointment of the centre-right politician Michel Barnier as the new prime minister. His appointment follows an inconclusive election in which the left-wing bloc - the New Popular Front (NPF) - won the largest number of seats. The protests were called by trade unions and members of the NPF, who are furious that their own candidate for prime minister was rejected by President Emmanuel Macron. Mr Barnier, the EU's former Brexit negotiator, said he is open to forming a government with politicians across the political spectrum, including the left. The interior ministry said 110,000 protested nationwide on Saturday, including 26,000 in Paris, though one protest leader claimed the figure was 300,000. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a veteran firebrand from the radical France Unbowed party, called for the "most powerful mobilisation possible" in national marches. Around 130 protests were scheduled, with the biggest setting out from central Paris on Saturday afternoon. Mr Mélenchon joined the Paris protest, giving a speech on the back of a float emblazoned with the slogan: “For democracy, stop Macron’s coup”. The demonstrators are also using slogans such as "denial of democracy" and "stolen election". Parties on the left are angry that their own candidate for prime minister, Lucie Castets, was rejected by Mr Macron, who said she had no chance of surviving a vote of confidence in the National Assembly. Mr Barnier may be able to survive a confidence vote because the far right, which also won a large number of seats, has said it won't automatically vote against him. That has led to criticism that his government will be dependent on the far right. "We have a prime minister completely dependent on National Rally," Ms Castets said. Mr Barnier spent Saturday afternoon visiting a children’s hospital in Paris, where he highlighted the importance of public services, but told healthcare workers his government "is not going to perform miracles", local broadcaster BFMTV reported. Against the backdrop of the protests, the new PM is focussed on forming a new government. After talks with the leaders of the right-wing Republicans and the president's centrist Ensemble group, he said discussions were going very well and were "full of energy". Some on the left have blamed themselves for ending up with Mr Barnier as prime minister. Socialist Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo pointed out that the president had considered former Socialist prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, for the job but that he had been turned down by his own party. Another Socialist Mayor, Karim Bouamrane, blamed intransigence from other parts of the left alliance: "The path they chose was 100% or nothing - and here we are with nothing." Read the full article

[beardedmrbean]

Michel Barnier has met President Emmanuel Macron and begun the task of forming a government, a day after he took over as French prime minister.

He said discussions were going very well and were "full of energy", after talks with the leaders of the right-wing Republicans and the president's centrist Ensemble group.

President Macron chose Mr Barnier 60 days after parliamentary elections left France in political deadlock, with three powerful blocs and none able to form a majority in the National Assembly.

Mr Barnier's survival may depend on the votes of the far-right National Rally, although they have made clear they will not join his government. The left plans nationwide protests on Saturday.

The parties of the left are angry that their candidate for prime minister, Lucie Castets, was rejected by Mr Macron because she had no chance of surviving a vote of confidence in the National Assembly.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a veteran firebrand from the radical France Unbowed party, has called for marches across France and for the "most powerful mobilisation possible". Some unions and youth groups have said they will take part.

"We have a prime minister completely dependent on National Rally," said Ms Castets who complained that she, like millions of French voters, felt betrayed and that the president had in effect ended up governing with the far right.

Hours after his meeting with President Macron, Mr Barnier, 73, was due to appear on the main news bulletin on private channel TF1.

French reports said that his interview formed part of the discussion with the president, along with forming a government and preparing the 2025 budget, which has to be put before parliament by 1 October.

Entering the prime minister's residence on Friday evening, Mr Barnier promised to address "the challenges, the anger, the suffering, the feeling of abandonment, of injustice running through many of our cities, suburbs and rural areas".

Ex-prime minister Gabriel Attal, whose centrist bloc came second in the election, said after talks with Mr Barnier that Ensemble was prepared to join a broad front with the republican right and republican left, with "no desire to block or offer unconditional support".

Mr Barnier himself comes from the Republicans, and party leader Laurent Wauquiez said his decision depended on the prime minister's plans: "For the moment, nothing has been decided."

Some on the left said it was their own fault they ended up with Mr Barnier as prime minister.

Socialist Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo pointed out that the president had considered former Socialist prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, for the job but that he had been turned down by his own party.

Another Socialist mayor, Karim Bouamrane, blamed intransigence from other parts of the left alliance: "The path they chose was 100% or nothing - and here we are with nothing."

National Rally leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella have already stressed they will not join the Barnier government, but will wait and see what policies he brings to parliament before they decide on a vote of confidence.

The left are threatening a vote of confidence but, without the backing of the far right, will not be able to bring Mr Barnier down.

"He's a man who has never gone too far when he's spoken about National Rally; he's never cast us out - he's a man for discussion," said Marine Le Pen, indicating they could allow him to continue in office.

Without her party's backing, Mr Barnier would not be able to muster the 289 votes in the 577-seat Assembly, simply by relying on the support of the centrists and the Republicans.

[channeledhistory]

[...] Nach zwei Monaten ohne gewählte Regierung hat Emmanuel Macron am Donnerstag [...] den Kommerzfachmann, ehemaligen EU-Kommissar und Vermittler des »Brexit« Michel Barnier als Ministerpräsidenten nominiert. Marine Le Pen und ihre Leute, offensichtlich zufrieden, ließen am Nachmittag wissen, dass sie die Nominierung Barniers nicht durch einen sofort eingereichten Misstrauensantrag blockieren werden. Der 73 Jahre alte Politiker war erst gestern auf der ellenlangen Liste möglicher Kandidatinnen und Kandidaten für den Chefposten aufgetaucht. Zuvor hatte Macron, wie Pariser Medien kolportierten, mit Le Pen telefoniert.

[...]

Die Annäherung an das extrem rechte politische Lager ist auch unter diesem Aspekt zu verstehen: Macron sei, wie der Pariser Politologe und Zentrumspolitiker Luc Gras am Mittwoch im TV-Sender Franceinfo anmerkte, »völlig aus der Rolle gefallen«, die ihm die französische Verfassung in dieser Situation zugestanden habe: Nämlich »Lucie Castets, die Kandidatin des linken Wahlsiegers NFP, als Premierministerin zu nominieren, und es anschließend dem Parlament zu überlassen, eine Lösung für die Regierungsbildung zu finden – oder nicht«.

Während der rechte RN und Marine Le Pen am Donnerstag ankündigten, gemütlich auf Barniers Rede zum geplanten Kur einer Regierung unter seiner Führung warten zu wollen, kam aus dem linken Lager die zu erwartende harsche Kritik. »Die Wahl wurde gestohlen«, erklärte Jean-Luc Mélenchon, einer der Initiatoren der Volksfront. »Wir haben einen Premier, dessen Partei bei den Wahlen am 7. Juli auf dem vierten Platz landete«, ergänzte sein Bündnispartner Olivier Faure vom Parti Socialiste. In der Tat holte Barniers Partei Les Républicains lediglich 7,25 Prozent der Stimmen und 46 Mandate. Macrons Mann wird es daher schwer haben – der Präsident hat ihn letztlich der Gunst der extrem rechten Vettern vom RN ausgeliefert, die mit 143 von 577 Sitzen eine Sperrminorität im Parlament halten. Kopfstärkste Fraktion ist der NFP mit 193 Abgeordneten.

[valentin10]

Jean-Luc Mélenchon : "Nous ne croyons pas un instant qu'il se trouvera une majorité à l'Assemblée nationale pour accepter un tel déni de la démocratie"

VIDÉO – Le président de la République a enfin nommé un Premier ministre pour remplacer Gabriel Attal, démissionnaire depuis le 16 juillet. Choisi après une série de concertations entre le chef de l’État et les forces politiques principales du pays, Michel Barnier va avoir la lourde tâche de devoir composer… — À lire sur…

[sesiondemadrugada]

Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas, 1996).