New French government deal struck, PM Barnier says

PARIS — French Prime Minister Michel Barnier has reached a deal with centrist and conservative lawmakers to form a new government, his office said in a statement Thursday. 

Barnier presented “the architecture of his governmental team” at a meeting with the various political parties involved in talks, the statement said. He then met with Emmanuel Macron to seek the French president’s approval for the new Cabinet. 

Barnier’s predecessor Gabriel Attal, who now leads Macron’s centrist group in France’s lower house of parliament, announced the deal at a meeting with his political allies earlier in the day, 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 Barnier’s party, the conservative Les Républicains. 

Two sources in the French legislature familiar with the negotiations confirmed to POLITICO that Les Républicans got three ministers in the negotiations, the most noteworthy being notably Bruno Retailleau, who will lead the interior ministry. Right-wing presidential hopeful Laurent Wauquiez, who leads Les Républicains in the National Assembly, told his political allies that he will not be joining the government, according to two parliamentary aides.

If Barnier can get Macron and all the parties included in the Cabinet to support the deal, it will mark a dramatic end to the months of political paralysis that have 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.