The new French government is born

Here we are, the long-awaited French government announced by Prime Minister Michel Barnier, composed of a formation of 39 ministers.

Seven of the seventeen chosen ministers are members of Ensemble pour la République, the coalition of President Emmanuel Macron, while three are from the Republicans, the party of the Prime Minister, which is undoubtedly conservative in orientation.

But even before the Council of Ministers, scheduled for Monday afternoon at the Élysée Palace, the leaders of the three main parties of the left coalition of the New Popular Front, which, it is worth remembering, received the most votes in the legislative elections in July, have fiercely contested the newly formed government, which is excessively shifted toward the center-right, and they will immediately attempt to bring it down. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, head of the main party in the coalition, La France Insoumise, immediately expressed his rejection, calling it a government that has “neither legitimacy nor future.”

France thus has a new government, but it is clear that the scenario that emerges is quite nebulous, with the left alone lacking the votes to raise barricades and bring down the government, facing a list of ministers that are unpopular and distant.

The streets, in true transalpine style, have filled with thousands of protesters who shouted their dissent against the future executive positioned too far to the right, in glaring contradiction to the outcomes of the popular consultations on June 30 and July 7, where the left-wing coalition Nouveau Front Populaire received multiple votes, placing it in first position.

Discontent, grievances, and unrest after over two months of what can only be described as exceptional absence, France is trying to regain its footing, full of contradictions, with a right that seems to be asserting itself despite the left’s victory in the legislative elections, with parliament divided into three blocs and an uncertain future that will undoubtedly stem from this tumultuous present.

Photo Credits by Euronews and Wikipedia

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