Roving Periscope: In Europe’s Far-Right season, the new French PM also turns right!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: If the centrist French President Emmanuel Macron has gambled on appointing a Conservative Prime Minister to ‘course correct’ and avert the inexorable rise of the Far Right, he may regret his decision much before the next presidential election in 2027.
For, the new PM, Michel Barnier, has hinted at his rightward tilt and vowed a harder stance on immigration. This is happening in far-right-turning Germany, Sweden, and other European countries, worried as they are about the relentless influx of immigrants—mostly Muslims—seeing it as a danger not only to their demography but also to democracy. Most of these immigrants demand political asylum, refuge on “humanitarian grounds”, employment, equal rights, and citizenship, in that order.
European commentators, like Paul Tailor (The Guardian), have said by picking Barnier as the new PM, President Macron has put his, and France’s fate, in the hands of Marine le Pen’s hands. She is the rising rightist star in French politics.
Barnier also said on Friday that his government, which lacks a clear majority in a hung National Assembly (the lower house of parliament), will include conservatives and members of Macron’s centrist camp. He will toughen the government’s stance on immigration and defend some of the President’s policies, the media reported on Saturday.
He, however, said that members from other groups, including the left, are also welcome to back the new government. “There is no red line,” he said, adding: “We need to open the door…to all those who want it.”
On Thursday, President Macron surprised many when he appointed Michel Barnier, 73, a Conservative and the European Union’s former Brexit negotiator, as the new PM, putting an end to a two-month-long political deadlock created after his ill-fated decision to call snap legislative elections that delivered an unruly hung parliament, but an increased strength of the Far Right.
Now, Barnier will have to drive reforms and the 2025 budget through a chaotic parliament as France is under pressure from the European Commission and bond markets to reduce its deficit, Al Jazeera reported.
The new PM signaled he would hold up some of Macron’s widely unpopular reform policies, such as the retirement age extension from 62 to 64 years, which sparked massive protests in France last year.
“We must not question this law, which was adopted in very difficult circumstances,” Barnier said, adding he could adjust the policy to better protect what he called “the most vulnerable.”
In the hung parliament, the left-wing New Popular Front and the far-right National Rally (RN), together have a majority and could oust the PM through a no-confidence vote. They had both campaigned strongly against the reform.
Barnier also hinted at taking a rightward shift on some issues, saying he would pursue tougher policies to curb immigration. “There still is a feeling that our borders are sieves and that migration flows aren’t being controlled,” he said, adding: “I don’t have much in common with the ideologies of the National Rally, but I respect it.”
Earlier, Macron’s political rivals alleged Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), the rising Far-Right party, was exerting outsize power over the President, who nominated Barnier with its tacit support after spending weeks looking for a candidate who would not immediately be toppled by a majority of lawmakers, Al Jazeera reported.
The RN gave tentative support to Barnier’s nomination by saying it would not immediately try to vote it down but asserted that it could withdraw support at any point if its concerns on immigration, security, and pocketbook issues were not met.
