Thousands of people took to the streets in France to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to appoint conservative Michel Barnier as prime minister.
Macron’s announcement came on September 5, nearly two months after France held snap elections in which no party won a majority.
Barnier, of the Republicans (LR) party, acknowledged his role, saying “respect, appeasement and unity are needed”.
Who is Michel Barnier?
Born on 9 January 1951, Barnier came from a modest family in La Tronche in south-eastern France.
Barnier has served as cabinet minister for Environment, European Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and Agriculture and Fisheries under four different Conservative prime ministers.
He has repeatedly voted in favour of conservative choices, such as opposing the decriminalisation of homosexual relations between underage couples, and abolishing the death penalty.
Barnier was the EU’s chief negotiator with Britain during Brexit talks in 2016.
Divided France
Macron called early elections in July this year after his Renaissance party was defeated by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) in European Parliament elections.
Elections for the National Assembly, held in two stages on 30 June and 7 July and seeing the highest voter turnout since 1981, resulted in no party winning a majority.
The left-wing New Popular Front came in first with 182 seats, followed by Macron’s Ensemble with 161 and the RN with 142.
However, Macron had called on centrist parties to unite to form a government
According to the French system, the power to appoint the Prime Minister rests solely with the President
Macron rejected the candidacy of left-wing Socialist Progressive Lucie Castets as prime minister, saying “institutional stability dictates that this option should not be retained”.
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Report: Suchitra Karthikeyan
Voiceover: Jude Weston
Production: Gayatri Menon
Published – September 11, 2024 03:57 PM IST