Macron’s Tightrope Walk on Mr. Brexit’s Shoulders
Tensions in French domestic politics have peaked with Emmanuel Macron’s remarkable efforts to appoint a new prime minister.
As his former prime minister, Édouard Philippe, increased tensions by announcing his candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections, Macron significantly altered the country’s political equations by appointing a well-known figure as prime minister. Michel Barnier, a veteran figure in French politics who is more renowned in the European Union than in his own country, at over seventy years old, will become France’s oldest prime minister. He will succeed the youngest prime minister in French history.
If everything goes according to his wishes and, more importantly, according to Macron’s plan, Barnier, in his last significant position, was the European Union commissioner and then the official EU representative in the negotiations formalizing the UK’s exit from the union after the Brexit referendum.
His firmness against British governments, particularly his stand against the demands of Theresa May’s government and his defense of EU interests, made him a well-known figure in Brussels and a relatively unpopular one in Britain. Barnier was for a long time a constant figure in British media and has become part of the political history of that country. Macron’s move to appoint Barnier as prime minister is considered a breathtaking tightrope walk that is very intriguing for observers outside French politics, although the French are accustomed to such ups and downs and shifts in their country’s politics.
Barnier belongs to a right-wing party that recently placed fourth overall in the elections. The French left is extremely angry about this appointment, yet they know they must somehow stand against the far-right party of Marine Le Pen and cannot afford to give them maximum space.
So far, the total seats whose firm support Macron has secured for the new government are significantly short of the required majority, and the main help for Barnier’s government’s survival is Marine Le Pen’s cooperation and her lack of effort to overthrow it.
Marine Le Pen and her party leader have, so far, shown a green light in their statements with specific conditions. The coming days will determine the fate of Macron’s strange tightrope walk. If everything goes according to Macron’s wishes, he will have defeated the far-right in elections with the help of the far-left and defeated the far-left in forming a government with the far-right.
It’s an exciting game that, if successful, will be historic.