Tag: La République en marche (Renaissance)

How Gabriel Attal became France’s youngest-ever prime minister

Post By World , , , , , ,

After a swift rise up the ranks, 34-year-old Gabriel Attal took the reins as France’s new prime minister on Tuesday. With a background steeped in privilege, the first openly gay head of government is expected to bring new energy to President Emmanuel Macron’s government, which has been weakened by months of protests over pension reform, the lack of a parliamentary majority and low approval ratings.

Macron is relying on Attal to rejuvenate his government, in part, with an appeal to a younger demographic of voters who have become disillusioned, notably ahead of crucial EU parliamentary elections in June. 

Gabriel Attal’s most pressing task will be to ensure that Macron’s unpopular government is in position to outperform the far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, who continues to gain ground on an anti-immigration, anti-Islam platform.  

As elsewhere in Europe, France‘s far right has benefitted from a global cost-of-living crisis, immigration woes and simmering resentment towards a political class – and a president – seen as out of touch. Macron’s confidence rating among the public dropped another point in January to 27 percent, according to a monthly Elabe poll for “Les Echos” business newspaper.

The same day that Attal took office, a leading Macron ally warned that Europe risks becoming “ungovernable” as gains by far-right parties in EU elections threaten to weaken the fabric of European integration.

Confirming his choice of Attal in a post on X, Macron addressed the young outgoing education minister directly, saying he knows he can count on Attal’s “energy and commitment” to bring back the spirit of “excellence and audacity” from 2017, when the president first took office.  


Under the French political system, the prime minister is the head of government, in charge of implementing policy and managing government ministers.  

But some heavyweight government figures aren’t happy about the dazzling rise of a man known among fellow ministers as “young Gabriel”.  

His combative stance runs contrary to that of his predecessor Élisabeth Borne, 62,  whose austere demeanour was respected among colleagues but made her averse to rapid-fire soundbite politics. Borne stepped down on Monday after serving less than two years in office as France’s second female prime minister.  

By coming into politics at such a young age, Attal has drawn inevitable comparisons to Macron himself, who became France’s youngest-ever president at the age of 39. The youngest previous prime minister was Laurent Fabius, named head of government by François Mitterand in 1984 at age 37.  

French media have suggested that Attal could succeed Macron when he reaches the end of his second term in 2027. He has already proven to be one of the most ambitious ministers in government despite his relative inexperience.  

Read moreMacron’s action plan ‘rings hollow’ as critics take to the streets banging pots and pans

A popular figure with a privileged background 

It took Attal only a little over a decade to rise from an internship in the health ministry to the second-highest office in the French republic.  

Born in the southern suburb of Clamart in 1989, Attal grew up in Paris with three younger sisters. His father, Yves Attal, was a successful film producer of Tunisian-Jewish descent who passed away in 2015. His mother, Marie de Couriss, also worked in the film industry and is from an Orthodox Christian family from Odesa.    

Attal attended the École alsacienne, a private school in the heart of Paris, and later graduated from the prestigious Sciences Po university. At age 17 he joined the Socialist Party and supported its then presidential candidate, Ségolène Royal, in the 2007 presidential election.  

Marisol Touraine, a former health minister under François Hollande and the mother of one of his classmates, offered Attal a job in 2012 that led to a full-time position in the ministry at the age of 23. While in that post, Attal also served as a local councillor in Vanves, a municipality in the southwest suburbs of Paris.  

Attal was one of the first to leave the Socialist Party to join Macron’s nascent “En Marche!” movement in 2016 and was elected to the National Assembly (France’s lower house of parliament) one year later in 2017. 

He became a deputy minister of education at 29, the youngest member of government ever under the post-war Fifth Republic. During the Covid-19 pandemic that took 166,176 lives in France, Attal was appointed government spokesperson by former PM Jean Castex and quickly became a household name.   

While serving as a junior minister in the budget office between 2022 and 2023, Attal defended Macron’s hugely controversial pension reform bill. Then in July 2023, he was appointed education minister, one of the most high-profile and politically sensitive cabinet positions. 

Read morePension reform poses biggest challenge to Macron’s legacy as a reformer

Tensions at French public schools have been rising in recent years, with cases of violence between students and teachers prompting intense national debate. Last month, a 12-year-old schoolgirl threatened a teacher with a kitchen knife at a school in northern France. In October, a radicalised Islamist student stabbed his former teacher to death. And in a case that shocked the nation and elicited an outpouring of grief, Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old history and geography professor, was attacked and beheaded by another radicalised student in a Paris suburb in October 2020.

Having experienced bullying himself while at school, Attal promised to make tackling bullying a priority after a series of student suicides made headlines in recent years. He has joined forces on this issue with First Lady Brigitte Macron, who has a strong interest in the subject as a former teacher herself.  

His most controversial move came less than two months into the job, when he banned pupils from wearing abayas, the long robes worn by some Muslim women and girls. Seen as a challenge to France’s secular values, the ban prompted a wave of fury across the country. Critics argued the loose garment did not constitute an “ostentatious” display of religion (banned in French schools since 2004) and shouldn’t be forbidden. The move earned him a popularity boost among many right-wing voters, despite Attal himself hailing from the left.  

Attal is France’s first openly gay prime minister and is in a civil partnership with Stéphane Séjourné, a 38-year-old MEP and secretary general of Macron’s ruling Renaissance party. Attal was outed when an old classmate published a book in 2018 while he was serving as junior minister at the education ministry during Macron’s first mandate.  

Attal is the most popular figure in government, with more than a third of poll respondents backing his possible appointment as prime minister in an Odoxa survey published last week. “Youth, public opinion and the real or potential capacity to lead the European election campaign made the difference” in the choice, a source close to the presidency told AFP. 

A wider government reshuffle is expected this week as Macron looks to fine-tune his team for the last three years of his presidency.  



Source link

#Gabriel #Attal #Frances #youngestever #prime #minister

‘Contradictions of Macronism’: French government fights to save face after immigration bill debacle

Post By World , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

President Emmanuel Macron’s government vowed on Tuesday to press ahead with a controversial immigration bill, a day after its flagship reform was rejected by lawmakers in a humiliating setback. The political crisis has heaped further pressure on a government that has struggled to pass reforms without a parliamentary majority.

In a surprise move, the French National Assembly voted to back a motion rejecting a controversial immigration bill on Monday without even debating it. The motion, proposed by the Greens, gained support not only from left-wing representatives but also from members of the right-wing Les Républicains and the far-right National Rally. 

The government’s stunning defeat in parliament prompted opposition politicians to call for its dissolution. Jordan Bardella, the president of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, told BFMTV on Tuesday he was “ready to serve as prime minister”.

The Élysée Palace, meanwhile, has moved fast to try and stop the political fallout. After an emergency ministerial meeting on Tuesday, government spokesperson Olivier Véran announced the formation of a special joint commission aimed at breaking the parliamentary gridlock “as fast as possible”’. The commission will be composed of seven representatives from both houses of parliament and will aim to return the bill to both chambers for a vote, Véran said. 

French government spokesperson Olivier Véran holds a press conference after a cabinet meeting at the presidential Élysée Palace in Paris, on December 12, 2023. © Ludovic Marin, AFP

After months of seeking to secure a majority in the National Assembly for his flagship policy, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had a lot riding on the legislation’s success. In response to the setback, Darmanin offered his resignation, which Macron rejected.  

Darmanin had actively courted the right for months in an attempt to secure a majority, accepting a substantial rewrite of the bill in the conservative-led Senate. However, the bill presented on Monday in the Assembly bore little resemblance to the one voted on in the Senate, much to the dismay of Les Républicains.

Speaking on TF1 on Monday after the vote, Darmanin acknowledged the defeat. “It is a failure, of course, because I want to provide resources for the police (…) and magistrates to combat undocumented immigration,” he said.

The limits of ‘en même temps’

Macron’s government has touted its proposed immigration law as a way to respond to voter concerns and prevent the far right from monopolising the immigration debate.  

“The president believes it is necessary to respond to what he sees as a public demand, given the multitude of events that have highlighted immigration issues in the news. This explains the government’s desire to show citizens that it takes the initiative and acts,” said Bruno Cautrès, a researcher at the Centre for Political Research at Sciences Po Paris (CEVIPOF).

However, Monday’s debacle in the National Assembly has exposed the limitations of the politics of “en même temps” (“at the same time”) – an approach pursued by Macron since 2017, combining policy solutions from both the right and the left wings of French politics.  

What was possible with an absolute majority during Macron’s first term is no longer feasible with a minority government.

According to a poll conducted by Odoxa, 72% of French citizens consider better control of immigration to be the bill’s most important objective. But the French are far from unified on how they want to resolve the system’s issues – mirroring deep divisions between left and right.

While the proposed law is widely perceived as right-leaning, it failed to satisfy both the right and far right, who reject providing work permits to undocumented workers. Simultaneously, it proved too repressive for the left, which opposes restrictions on family reunifications and the introduction of an annual debate on migration quotas.

Politicians are urging Macron’s government to choose a side instead of attempting to please everyone. Olivier Marleix, the head of Les Républicains in the lower house, told French television channel LCI that his party was “ready to vote” if the text is revised to the version voted through by the Senate.  

“We want the government to choose sides: either it’s a right-wing text or a left-wing text, but it can’t be both at the same time.”

Even Macron’s political movement, Renaissance, exhibited internal divisions over the bill. The left wing of Renaissance, led by Sacha Houlié, the chairman of the lower house commission that amended the bill, expressed dissatisfaction with concessions made by Darmanin to the right, particularly regarding the stripping of healthcare rights for undocumented migrants.

Read moreFrench doctors vow to ‘disobey’ bill stripping undocumented migrants of healthcare rights

 

“We have red lines. It would be irresponsible to go beyond our political DNA … The adoption of the text cannot come at the cost of a division within the majority,” said Houlié in an interview with French Financial daily Les Échos on Sunday.

“It is very difficult to achieve consensus on immigration, which generates a diversity of perspectives and a clear division between right and left,” said Cautres. “There have been many hesitations by the government over the months. The balance is too difficult to find because this is typically the kind of issue where the contradictions of ‘Macronism’ can surface.”  

Fallout for Darmanin – and his colleagues

A day after having his resignation declined, Darmanin seems to have bounced back, for now. On a visit to a police station in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Darmanin said Tuesday that “whatever path we take”, he wanted “firm measures” to be put in place by the end of the year.

But his contortions throughout the process have left a lasting impression. After expressing satisfaction with the Senate’s version which bore little resemblance to the initial bill, Darmanin had enthusiastically welcomed the version the National Assembly commission extensively revised – prompting critics to describe him as fickle.  

On Tuesday, Les Républicains party chief Eric Ciotti said he would like to work with Prime Minister Élizabeth Borne on the immigration law moving forward, suggesting his party had lost faith in the interior minister.   

“How can we talk to someone (Darmanin) who constantly insults us? It is up to the prime minister to lead this discussion,” he told Europe 1.  

If the new special joint commission fails to reach a breakthrough, it will pose a significant challenge for Borne and her government. If she still intends to adopt the bill, she may find herself compelled to use Article 49.3 – a controversial provision in the French constitution that allows the executive to bypass the National Assembly to pass a law. 

Triggering Article 49.3 for the 21st time in only 18 months would raise the political stakes even higher, particularly after the administration’s controversial use of it in the spring to pass pension reform occasioned protests and disruptive strikes across France that garnered the world’s attention.

This article was adapted from the original in French.

Source link

#Contradictions #Macronism #French #government #fights #save #face #immigration #bill #debacle

A dog day afternoon in French politics as Macron uses ‘nuclear option’ to raise retirement age

Post By World , , , , , , ,

France entered a period of political uncertainty on Thursday as French President Emmanuel Macron rammed a controversial pension reform through parliament without a vote by invoking a special executive measure. With the opposition braced for a no-confidence vote and the unions threatening more strikes, France witnessed a dramatic afternoon in politics.

The scenes in the National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament, on Thursday appeared to have been lifted from historical dramas dating back to the country’s revolutionary past.

“Aux armes citoyens, formez vos bataillons,” sang opposition lawmakers as the chamber echoed with the rallying cry of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, rallying citizens to take up arms and form battalions. “S’il vous plait, s’il vous plait,” pleaded Yaël Braun-Pivet, the speaker of the National Assembly, ineffectually trying to get order in the house.

Far-left lawmakers in the National Assembly hold placards and sing La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, on March 16, 2023. The placards read “64 years old: No!” © Pascal Rossignol, Reuters

The session was suspended for two minutes before Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne could announce the triggering of Article 49.3 of the French constitution, which grants the government executive privilege to pass a bill without a vote. Triggering Article 49.3 also permits the opposition to respond with a no-confidence motion. 

“Today, we are faced with uncertainty that hinges on a few votes. We cannot take the risk of 175 hours of parliamentary debates collapsing,” said the 61-year-old French prime minister, raising her voice above the din. “On the basis of Article 49.3 of the constitution, I engage the responsibility of my government on the pension reform bill.”

With that, the likely unlikely happened in French politics on Thursday afternoon. President Emmanuel Macron was reelected last year after running on a campaign pledge to raise the retirement age. His reputation as an economic reformer hinged on his ability to make the French work longer by raising the official retirement age from 62, the lowest of any country in the EU.

The French president initially proposed a retirement age of 65, but that was brought down to 64 in January, when he floated the pension reform plan following months of talks with trade unions, employers and political parties.

For Macron, it was the mother of all reforms. For the opposition, particularly the far-left NUPES (New Ecological and Social Popular Union) alliance, it was the mother of all political opposition battles. France’s powerful unions were also on the opposition’s side, and they made it clear with eight nationwide strikes over the past three months, drawing over a million people on the streets almost every week.

While both sides played dare, the threat of Article 49.3 – or simply 49.3 as its popularly known – hung in the air. It was a nuclear option that neither side wanted and few imagined would come to pass. But now that it has, it leaves Macron weakened, Borne particularly vulnerable, and France in a state of shock as the politicians plot their next moves, keeping the country on edge.

An anxious weekend

Under the French constitution, once the prime minister invokes Article 49.3, the opposition has 24 hours to table a motion of censure.

Shortly after Borne’s address in the National Assembly on Thursday, Marine Le Pen said her far-right National Rally party would file a no-confidence motion. Communist lawmaker Fabien Roussel said such a motion is “ready” on the left.

For a no-confidence vote to be put to the chamber, the motion must be signed by at least one-tenth of the National Assembly’s 577 deputies.

Once the no-confidence motion is tabled, the National Assembly has to wait 48 hours before it is discussed in the chamber.

French law provides the 48-hour period to enable the government to convince undecided parties, and to allow lawmakers to make their decision after careful deliberations.

A no-confidence vote requires a majority, which means a minimum of 287 votes.

With a no-confidence motion set to be tabled on Friday, a vote is likely early next week, leaving the French in a state of heightened political anxiety over the weekend. What’s more, by opting for 49.3, Macron may have taken a safe option, but there’s no guarantee it will bring him any peace.

‘Reaping the harvest’ of the 2022 legislative elections

From the onset of the mass mobilisation against the pension reform, Article 49.3 was viewed as a risky option. But with the government unsure of getting the minimum 287 votes in the National Assembly needed to approve the pension bill, Macron chose to play it safe by opting for the nuclear option.

The conservative- dominated Senate approved the reform earlier Thursday in a move that was widely predicted. The political drama was always going to be in the lower house, where the president’s centrist La République en Marche (Renaissance) party does not have a majority.

With just hours to go before the National Assembly vote, Macron held a Cabinet meeting at the Elysée presidential palace to strategise the next move as the country waited with baited breath.

The decision to opt for 49.3 came just a few minutes before the scheduled vote in the National Assembly. The roots of the controversial decision, though, date back to the June 2022 legislative elections, when Macron’s alliance lost its parliamentary majority.

“The president was already weakened when his centrist grouping, Renaissance, failed to gain an absolute majority in the legislative elections back in June,” explained FRANCE 24’s International Affairs Commentator Douglas Herbert. “We’re basically reaping the harvest of the last legislative elections. What we’re seeing right now are the vulnerabilities of a presidential movement or party when it doesn’t have a parliamentary majority.”

Thursday saw the article used for the 100th time under France’s modern constitution, which created an all-powerful president in 1958, overturning the previous one and its parliamentary system.

Under the modern fifth republic, 16 prime ministers have used the article and have managed to stay in power.

Macron’s government is expected to survive a no-confidence vote after the head of the conservative Republicans party in the opposition said it would vote with the president’s allies, which are 39 seats short of a majority in the 577-seat assembly.

But the anger on the streets is likely to undermine the very purpose of his pension reform. Raising the retirement age, Macron noted, was necessary to make the French economy more competitive and in tune with the rest of the developed world, where people are living longer and healthier lives with security benefits threatening to put budgets into deficits.

However the social fallout of Macron’s latest political gamble is unlikely to increase France’s economic competitiveness while highlighting its exceptionalism as a country deeply committed to maintaining the existing official retirement age.

By Thursday night, thousands of protesters had gathered on Place de la Concorde, across the river Seine from parliament. Police fired tear gas as angry demonstrators hurled cobble stones at security officers. In several other French cities, including Marseille, there were also spontaneous protests against the reform.

French unions called for another day of strikes and action against the reform on Thursday, March 23.

It was just one sign of things to come, according to Herbert. “If you thought things were already tense in France over the past couple of weeks, couple of months, stand by, because passions are about to be even more inflamed,” he warned.

Source link

#dog #day #afternoon #French #politics #Macron #nuclear #option #raise #retirement #age