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PARIS — French Prime Minister Michel Barnier has reached a deal with centrist and conservative lawmakers to form a new government, his predecessor Gabriel Attal told political allies on Thursday.
Attal, who now leads President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist group in the National Assembly, France’s parliament, delivered the announcement at a gathering shortly after meeting with Barnier, according to two people who participated in the encounter and were granted anonymity to protect relationships. One participant said the cabinet team includes seven ministers from Macron’s party, Renaissance, and three from the conservative Les Républicains.
Barnier still needs to confirm that all the parties in the cabinet support the agreement and must also obtain approval from Macron before the deal can be finalized. If all sign off, it will mark a dramatic end to the months of political paralysis that has gripped France.
Negotiations led by the European Union’s former chief Brexit negotiator appeared close to collapsing on Wednesday, when Barnier canceled meetings with the conservatives and centrists and headed to the Elysée for crisis talks.
The tensions centered on Barnier’s alleged plans to increase taxes, a no-go for the centrists. There were also concerns at the Elysée that Barnier’s team did not include enough politicians from across the political spectrum to create a government of “national unity.”
Macron had appointed Barnier prime minister earlier this month in a last-ditch attempt to break the political deadlock that has paralyzed France since a snap election earlier this summer delivered a hung parliament. A pan-left coalition won the most seats in the contest but fell short of an absolute majority. The French president refused to appoint the left’s candidate for the job, a little-know civil servant Lucie Castets, arguing that she would not have enough support in parliament to survive a no-confidence vote.
After a record-long transition, conservative grandee Barnier instead was appointed with the support of the Les Républicains party and Macron’s centrists — and controversially the tacit backing of the Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party. But relations have already started to sour between Barnier and Attal. Attal and the centrists want more visibility on Barnier’s policy objectives — especially on taxes, which Barnier has reportedly floated raising as a means to to get France’s messy finances in check.
The new government needs to send a budget for 2025 to the National Assembly in the coming days to meet tight parliamentary deadlines and, in parallel, convince the European Commission that it has a credible debt reduction plan to bring down France’s worryingly high deficit.
