Thousands of protesters called by left-wing parties, unions and organisations took to the streets across France on Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s appointment of conservative Michel Barnier as prime minister.
The leader of La France Insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, was one of the political leaders present at the Parisian parade, which began at Place de la Bastille, where he stressed that it will be “a battle and a fight that” It will last a long time.”
Mélenchon confirmed the presentation of a motion of censure against Barnier, on which all the left-wing parties have promised to vote at the start of the parliamentary sessions, which may not happen before October.
Nearly 150 demonstrations were organized today throughout France, as part of a tough action by the opposition to which will be added this motion of censure and also a parliamentary procedure for the impeachment of Macron promoted by LFI, but not by the other left-wing parties.
The New Popular Front (NFP), formed by left-wing parties to run in the legislative elections called early on June 30 and July 7 by Macron, won 193 seats out of a total of 577 and demanded that the president be able to form a government by being the first group in the National Assembly.
Macron opted for Barnier, a member of the Republicans (LR), the traditional right-wing party, who obtained 6% of the vote and 47 seats, but benefits from the implicit support of the outgoing presidential majority (166 deputies).
The reason given by the Elysée is that she was the only one not to run the risk of being quickly overthrown by a motion of censure, since Marine Le Pen’s extreme right, which was by far the most voted bloc (37%), against 28% for the left), although it only has 142 seats left, has declared that it will not vote for a motion of censure against her, at least for the moment.
Bardella: “Nothing can be done without us”
Jordan Bardella, president of Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), insisted today that his party is “the leading party in France” in terms of votes and MPs, meaning that “nothing can be done against us without our approval or our censorship.”
Bardella, who visited the town of Châlons in Champagne, also warned that Barniere would be judged “for his actions” and congratulated himself on having “prevented the far left from taking power”.
In response to these remarks, the first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), who did not join the street protests against Barnier led by LFI, accused Macron in his X account of having placed himself “under the tutelage of the extreme right” by appointing this prime minister.
“Macron and his friends could have chosen not to censor the NFP, to let it govern by accepting compromises since we do not have an absolute majority,” Faure said.
The Socialist leader faces criticism from within his own party from some barons who complain that the NFP has adopted a closed stance towards Macronism in order to seek a compromise government, and that the result has been a right-wing prime minister.
In this vein, the mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, stressed this Saturday on France Info that “by dint of wanting a pure left, we have a harder right.”
Other socialist leaders have also made similar statements in recent days, such as the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, or the president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga.
