00:00To help us make sense of this moment in French politics is France 24's Clovis Casale.
00:05Hello there.
00:05Hello.
00:06Easy task in front of you, it seems.
00:08What is the likelihood?
00:12Well, let's just explain a bit the context.
00:15Okay.
00:15Political instability, yes.
00:17Third prime minister in less than a year.
00:19All this since the 2024 snap elections.
00:23Remember, President Macron wanted those elections.
00:26Disastrous because no party, no single party or even an alliance in Parliament could get an outright majority.
00:35And that's why it's so difficult to pass laws, budgets.
00:38Yesterday, I was at Matignon at this event for the transfer of power.
00:43Bayrou leaving his spot for Sébastien Lecornu.
00:47And it was interesting because Sébastien Lecornu, the new prime minister's entourage, was there,
00:51came to talk to us journalists, to give us a bit, some info on what he is seeking to do.
00:58He wants a new method.
00:59He wants to get a new approach to those negotiations with other parties.
01:04And his entourage telling us he wants to revive hope.
01:07Hope?
01:08Why?
01:08Because the French are exasperated with this political situation and also with the economic situation.
01:15When it comes to politics, France is not like, say, Germany, used to building compromise in Parliament.
01:22Parties all think they're the only ones who've got the answer to improve the lives of the French people.
01:28And therefore, they don't want to make alliances with other parties.
01:32All that needs to change.
01:33And that's the biggest task for Sébastien Lecornu.
01:36Right, because while the prime minister has changed quite often, the political landscape in general has stayed basically the same.
01:42So what is the likelihood that Lecornu is the man who can break the cycle?
01:47Especially because he's just like François Bayrou, just like the predecessor Michel Barnier, from the right or the centre-right.
01:55So he will be governing towards the right wing.
01:58He's got the centrist bloc and his traditional allies.
02:02He's actually meeting them, he met them this morning, and this afternoon he's meeting with a key player here, the Socialist Party.
02:10Not a huge number of MPs at Parliament, but that number of MPs can help the centrist bloc of President Macron with its allies on the right.
02:20Well, the Socialists can help them get that majority of votes to pass laws, to pass the much-needed budget.
02:29Can he really count on the Socialists and the rest of the left?
02:32Very difficult to say, because the Socialists and the Green Party are insulted by the fact that they weren't chosen for the job as prime minister.
02:40They said, you tried with right-wing figures and centrist figures in the past, it didn't work.
02:46Why didn't you pick us?
02:47National rally, French far-right party, they say, we just want snap elections.
02:52We want early elections because Emmanuel Macron is no longer legitimate.
02:57Let's take a listen to the Socialist leader of his party's parliamentary group.
03:03He's called Boris Vallaud.
03:05And this morning on French television, he made it very clear.
03:08He kind of set the red line.
03:10He said, these are the measures we absolutely want the government to undertake.
03:15Take a listen.
03:16The Socialist Party's proposals are on the table and they're serious.
03:22They're coherent and based on simple principles.
03:25They're for the French people who have only their wages to live on and who struggle to make ends meet and don't always earn enough for what they do.
03:33We should spare those people from cuts.
03:34There should be no cuts made on the back of the sick, no cuts made on the unemployed, no cuts made on those who feel the state always takes from their pockets.
03:44The people are sick of making sacrifices and seeing no better future.
03:48So here we have a new opportunity to start a dialogue, start talks.
03:52What are the measures that are going to be key when it comes to these negotiations between the prime minister and all these other parties?
03:59First, you need to know France has got crippling debt, like a lot of countries, except that France is only just paying back the interest on that debt and not really trying to reduce the debt itself.
04:11And that's why it's such an important point.
04:13All the parties agree on that, apart from the radical left of France, unbounded of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
04:18But the socialists acknowledge this.
04:20So they've put forward this measure called the tax Zuckmann.
04:23What is it? Taxed by 2%, the wealthier parts of society.
04:29We're talking people with a capital of over 100 million euros.
04:34So the plan would be to tax 2% of that.
04:37The right wing opposed to it.
04:39They say if you put in place that tax, the rich people, the very rich people, will just flee France and go not to the other side of the world,
04:46but to Switzerland, Belgium, probably Italy that's got a new system to welcome those who want to pay less.
04:54Income tax, for instance.
04:56So that's not negotiable.
04:57That tax for the left, that tax Zuckmann I was just mentioning, the left wants the next government to undertake it.
05:04Otherwise, they won't allow the government to pass its budget.
05:09Important point.
05:10The other one is the pension reform.
05:12We've been talking a lot about it.
05:14The age for retirement was put from 62 to 64 years old.
05:18The left wing wants to renegotiate that.
05:21And information this morning, it seems that Sébastien Lecornu, the new French prime minister, is ready to revive talks on the reform of the pension system.
05:31There were big talks with various political parties and the unions.
05:35Those talks were cancelled.
05:38Now Sébastien Lecornu seems to say, I'm ready to renegotiate that pension reform.
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