France, Barnier announces wealth for the richest

"Let us take care of the République, it is weak. Let us take care of Europe, it is necessary. Let us take care of the French and the French people, who are asking us to overcome our differences'. In a continuously rowdy Assemblée, at the initiative of the left-wing deputies of France Insoumise, new Prime Minister Michel Barnier presented the programme of the most difficult government in France's recent history. Difficult because of the immediate challenges he will have to face, difficult because of the tensions that simmer under a minority executive, which often require him to 'correct' the stances of the various ministers.

"I ask a lot from you, with little, and starting from afar": quoting Charles de Gaulle's speech from London in May 1942, Barnier immediately faced two 'swords of Damocles'. The first is that of the public accounts that demand to be restored: 'We are on the brink of the precipice,' Barnier said. The prime minister has announced that the deficit will fall to 5 per cent in 2025 and may fall below 3 per cent in 2029, but not very quickly.

Two-thirds of the manoeuvre that will be presented in a few days will consist of spending cuts (with the fight against avoidance, but also 'the illusion of subsidising everything'), but there will be no lack of tax increases: for the very large companies that make significant profits, "without damaging our competitiveness" and for the wealthiest. "There are serious and serious choices to be made," Barnier told MPs. The second sword of Damocles concerns the environmental debt, which is close to Barnier's heart, who was minister for ecology in the 1990s. The nuclear option is confirmed, but so is the commitment to renewable energies. 'Never sacrifice the future for the present,' he said, quoting former radical prime minister Pierre Mendés France.

Barnier called for a method, which is affected by the minority nature of his government: respect for all political forces "even if this respect will not always be reciprocal", he said referring to the constant protests - which the prime minister did not allow him to interrupt - from the extreme left. The issue of proportional suffrage, which is much debated at the moment, will be addressed; and pensions will also be reconsidered, but respecting the financial resilience of the system.

In a political debate that has often spoken of 'red lines' not to be crossed ('sometimes very red lines', the prime minister joked) Barnier wanted to emphasise his own. "There will be no tolerance towards racism and anti-Semitism. There will be no tolerance of discrimination against women. There will be no tolerance of communitarianism. There will be no caving in on the defence of secularism. None. There will be no restriction of freedoms won over the years (the explicit reference is to abortion), no questioning of the law on marriage for all, nor of the death penalty. Clear answers to the controversies, certainly not empty ones, of recent days.