'We do appear to be nearing the end of a long period of uncertainty'

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00Yeah well actually we are still waiting to see what the official list of

00:04ministers will look like but we do as you mentioned that appear to be nearing

00:08the end of a long period of uncertainty. It's been two and a half months since

00:12legislative elections were held here in France. On Friday Michel Barnier handed

00:17over that final list of 38 names to President Macron. Prime Minister says he

00:22hopes to unveil his government before Sunday so it could be today, it could be

00:25in the next few hours but there does appear to be some fine-tuning still

00:29going on. In terms of hurdles nominees need to be vetted by the high authority

00:37for transparency in public life. This is a body that ensures the nominees have no

00:42conflicts of interest, that they've paid their taxes for example, this is all

00:46customary. As for the names that have come out in French media reports all

00:51except one appear to come from the centre and the right so it's very likely

00:55we'll see fresh faces in key offices of state including in Foreign, Finance and

01:01Interior Ministries. As you just heard there Jean-Noël Barrault reportedly

01:06being considered as a foreign minister, he's currently Europe Minister.

01:1033-year-old Antoine Armand, a rising star from Macron's own parliamentary

01:15grouping considered for Finance Minister but very significantly Bruno

01:20Retailleau, leader of the Republicans in the Senate, of course the Republicans is

01:24Michel Barnier's own party, could land the post of Interior Minister. The current

01:30holder of that post, Gérald Darmanin, confirming that he won't stay in the

01:35post. That's a very important portfolio of course because the Interior Minister

01:39controls police and domestic security, immigration of course very high on the

01:44agenda so that would be a big coup for the Republicans if they land that post

01:47bearing in mind of course they came fourth in the legislative elections.

01:53Now we have had a fair few names leaked to the media in the past few days. We have a

01:57decent idea of the lineup of this cabinet. Who among those names are the

02:02most contentious potential appointees? Well actually I'm going to give you just

02:06a couple of names in a moment. It does indeed look like this government lineup

02:11will mark a shift to the right so there's been a lot of criticism that

02:16this cabinet doesn't include enough politicians from across the political

02:19spectrum to create a real government of national unity if you like. So there's

02:24anger within the ranks of the left coalition, the New Popular Front, of

02:27course that grouping that came first in legislative elections. It doesn't look

02:32like they're going to get any representation in this cabinet. So we've

02:37seen calls for protest today from key figures in that coalition expecting

02:42between 20 and 40,000 protesters on the streets of Paris alone and some other

02:47cities across France too. Now the presence of two names in particular in

02:52that lineup has caused unease amongst members of President Macron's own

02:57centrist alliance. So on the one hand as I mentioned earlier Bruno Retailleau

03:01being considered as minister for the post of Minister of the Interior. Now he's

03:07seen as a very conservative figure, far too conservative for some who say

03:12that he isn't a unifying figure so that could provoke people on the left. And

03:17another name in particular Laurence Garnier, she's a senator for the

03:21Republicans being considered reportedly as family's minister. Now her name is

03:26controversial because she was opposed to same-sex marriage. She was also opposed

03:32to the inscription of the right to abortion in France's constitution.

03:37Now there are rumors in French media that President Macron has ruled

03:40her out as family's minister. We know earlier this week there were tensions

03:45between President Macron and Michel Barnier over the makeup of the new

03:50government. Those tensions appear to have been resolved. Now we're just waiting to

03:53find out what the official list of ministers will look like.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended