The president appears to be weakened domestically more than ever. According to a survey, two thirds of French people want him to resign. Calls for this have also been heard from the ranks of the left, which the 46-year-old has so far dismissed as “political fiction”. The next presidential elections will not take place until 2027.
Possible successors
Two Macron confidants, namely the 38-year-old Defense Minister, are primarily considered Barnier’s possible successors Sébastien Lecornu as well as the head of the Center Party François Bayrouat 73 years old, a veteran of French politics.
The dejected Barnier said on Thursday that he honestly wished the future head of government “good luck”. In fact, he will have to show great skill in order to get back into dialogue with the opposition.
The crisis began with Macron’s reaction to the EU elections
The crisis began on the evening of the EU elections in June, when Macron unexpectedly announced early parliamentary elections after his party’s poor performance.
In July, these led to a new division of the National Assembly into three large blocs: an alliance of left and green partiesone of the forces of the political center as well as the right-wing extremist National Rally (RN) as the largest single party.
While Macron’s center-right government lacked a majority, the left and the RN were now able to join forces to bring down Barnier.
Budget issue: why Barnier was overthrown
Although the former EU commissioner is considered a sophisticated negotiator, he has already failed on his first major project, the budget for next year. In order to reduce the high national debt of 3.2 trillion euros and the deficit of around six percent, he envisaged savings and tax increases amounting to 60 billion euros.
Nothing will come of this, but in France there is no fear of a shutdown like in the USA, as the previous year’s budget can be carried over to the next year; However, the spiral of expenditure threatens to continue to rise.
In a televised speech on Thursday evening, Macron vented his anger at the “Coalition of the Irresponsible,” as he calls the coalition of the Left Party, Socialists, Greens, Communists and the right-wing extremist RN. He did not present a new prime minister.
In fact, the Left Alliance took revenge for being passed over in the prime ministerial election, even though it had won the most seats in the parliamentary election. Instead, he appointed Barnier because RN parliamentary group leader Marine Le Pen had originally assured him that he would at least give him a chance.
Le Pen is increasing the pressure
It is an open secret that Le Pen wants Macron’s downfall. She herself is doing well in the polls, but fears the verdict in the trial for embezzling EU funds on March 31, in which she will be punished by being ineligible for election for several years.
She could try to force Macron to resign as quickly as possible – even if she doesn’t express this in concrete terms. “It is up to him alone to say whether he wants to ignore the people’s rejection of him,” she said herself, with almost state-like calm.
As if all they had to do was wait until everything developed further to their liking.