Q: Protests even before the start of the new government

Even before the new government was appointed in Paris, criticism from France’s left has rained down, as the election winner will not play a major role in the future cabinet. The Left Party, trade unions and other organizations called for nationwide rallies tomorrow against the future cabinet of the new Prime Minister Michel Barnier.

Instead of being presented today as expected, the new centre-right government will now only be presented tomorrow due to “final adjustments”.

The coordinator of the Left Party, Manuel Bompard, spoke of a “denial of democracy that is totally unacceptable and intolerable” on France Bleu Provence. “It is a government of losers that continues the course of the official governments, even though they lost the last parliamentary elections, and which also includes ministers of the republics, even though they obtained less than six percent in the last parliamentary elections.”

No camp with a governing majority

In the early parliamentary elections just over two months ago, the left-wing alliance came in ahead of the centrist forces of President Emmanuel Macron and the right-wing nationalists around Marine Le Pen. Neither camp received an absolute majority, and no party managed to put together a governing majority with partners.

After much hesitation, Macron elected the conservative Barnier as the new prime minister two weeks ago. The hope was that the former EU chief Brexit negotiator would use his negotiating skills to find enough partners for a government capable of taking action.

Macron’s predecessor, the socialist Francois Hollande, also voiced criticism of the future government. Why had a new election been organized if at the end of the same one the government would be just a little further to the right, Hollande told the broadcaster France Bleu Occitanie. Green politician Sandrine Rousseau said that the voters of the left-wing alliance were being “cheated about the result of this election.”