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amy goodman: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. Let’s move on to France. The country is in political turmoil after left-wing and far-right lawmakers united to oust Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a no-confidence vote on Wednesday. The vote came amid fierce opposition to Mr. Barnier’s budget proposal and its roughly $60 billion in spending cuts and tax increases. This is the first time since 1962 that the French government has faced a vote of no confidence. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls to resign. He said he would soon name a new prime minister.
president emmanuel Macron: (Translation) We cannot allow ourselves to be divided or do nothing. That’s why I plan to nominate a Prime Minister soon. I ask them to agree to form a government in the general interest and represent all political parties that can participate in it, or at least not bring it down.
amy goodman: Joining us from Marseille, France is Cole Stangler, a journalist who covers French politics and labor issues. His latest book, Paris Is Not Dead: Surviving Hypergentrification in the City of Light.
Mr. Cole, thank you so much for being with us. Please talk about what happened. This is historical.
call stangler: Yeah. thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
As you said, this is the first time since 1962 that a government has succumbed to a vote of no confidence. This is the shortest-lived government in the history of the Fifth Republic. And we are in this situation of unprecedented turmoil. I think we can look for deeper reasons to understand the political crisis France is in, but if we look at it a little more simply, it really comes down to two major factors. here.
One is that we have to go back to President Macron’s decision to dissolve parliament this summer, which will probably go down as one of the greatest own goals in the history of French politics. It’s a movement that doesn’t exist. So, Macron, he dissolved the National Assembly, which means we had new elections. And in those new elections, the National Front, excuse me, the far-right National Rally, has increased its share, and Macron’s party has decreased its share. This left a situation in which there were three main blocs in parliament, none of which could form a majority of their own. In other words, Mr. Macron lost his relative majority in parliament due to the injury he inflicted on himself by calling for elections.
And secondly, and this goes back to Macron’s responsibility, secondly, the root of this crisis lies in how Macron has responded to these elections. So, as I said, after these elections, there were three blocs in Congress. The three blocs were essentially evenly divided, although the Left, the Left Bloc, and the New Popular Front slightly led the rest. And instead of relying on those parties — instead of looking at what voters expressed in opinion polls, that is, their support for centrists and leftists — Macron decided to appoint a right-wing prime minister. It really reflects what voters expressed in their votes.
To simplify things, there are actually these two big problems. That is because, firstly, Macron’s decision to hold these elections in the first place backfired and reduced the party’s share in parliament, and secondly, his government here, which is collapsing. However, the fact is that it does not reflect what voters actually expressed in the election. A poll conducted earlier this summer.
amy goodman: Mr. Barnier is a former EU official. He was forced to resign as Prime Minister. The president says he intends to name a new prime minister. Can you tell me who exactly he’s talking to? They include everyone from the far-right Marine Le Pen to Mathilde Panault, leader of the left-wing France Unyielding party. And Marine Le Pen is due to be sentenced in a criminal embezzlement case in the coming months, which could make her ineligible to run for office for years, right?
call stangler: Yes, that’s right. And that may be part of the reason why there are calls from some corners of the far right to move to a presidential election. But, you know, the key issue here is that we still have the same mathematical problems that we had after this summer’s election. The question is how to find a capable prime minister who can gain sufficient support in the Diet. Will it at least survive a no-confidence motion? So we have to get someone who can’t vote against the 289 members of Congress. That’s the real goal here.
And the question is whether Mr. Macron is going to basically do the same thing he did this summer, which is to say, “We’re going to turn right,” and effectively leave the national assemblies to the national assemblies. Are we going to decide whether to form a government or not? Or are you going to turn left? That’s what the Kuomintang, or members of the left-wing coalition New Popular Front, want. But frankly, Amy, the way Macron spoke last night, I don’t think we’re going to change course and we don’t think we’re going to move to that Macron who wants to nominate a left-wing prime minister.
But again, the main situation here is that at some point it’s not actually a decision that Macron will make. I have a mathematical problem. France needs a government, but it has three blocs that are roughly evenly divided. So at some point, that mathematical reality requires a choice.
amy goodman: And finally, Cole Stangler, will President-elect Trump be going to France on his first overseas trip since being re-elected to help reopen Notre Dame Cathedral after the fire?
call stangler: Yeah, I mean, the timing is very remarkable, because we now have a president, you know, President Macron — I mean, both of these presidents are very different. You could say that — or in Trump’s case, a future president — in a variety of situations. If you look at President Macron’s popularity, he is increasingly isolated and extremely unpopular.
amy goodman: You have 10 seconds.
call stangler: Well, Macron is not in a very good position right now because he is a very unpopular president and increasingly isolated.
amy goodman: Cole Stangler is a journalist from the French city of Marseille. And I will link to your article.
Democracy now! Mike Burke, Anjali Kamat, Renee Felts, Deena Guzder, Messiah Rose, Nermeen Sheikh, Maria Taracena, Tami Woronov, Czarina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tay-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Produced with Robbie Karan, Hany Massoud and Hana Elias. I’m Julie Crosby, our executive director. I’m Amy Goodman. Thank you very much for your participation.
