PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron chaired the first meeting of a cross-partisan government on Thursday, uniting right-wingers, left-wingers, old hands and new faces in a team whose first goal is to win parliamentary elections in June.
Those present included economy and budget ministers from the right, a TV environmentalist put in charge of ecology and energy, and a veteran Socialist who was defence minister in the preceding government but now has a Europe and foreign policy brief.
The debut at the centrist leader’s Elysee palace offices in central Paris followed publication of an opinion poll suggesting Macron’s start-up party, Republic on the Move (REM), will come first in mid-June parliamentary elections; but it remained unclear whether he would win a majority.
The Harris Interactive poll found Macron’s share of vote in the first round of National Assembly elections on June 11 had risen — up three points from a similar poll on May 11 and up six points from a poll on May 7.
But despite his 66-34 per cent win against anti-EU anti-immigration nationalist Marine Le Pen last May 7, another poll sounded a cautionary note.
Just 45 per cent of voters have confidence in Macron’s double act with prime minister Edouard Philippe — the lowest public confidence levels for French leaders starting their terms in at least the last 20 years, the Elabe poll said.
Philippe, like economy minister Bruno Le Maire, is a defector from France’s main conservative party The Republicans (LR).
In a morning radio interview, Philippe said ‘progress’ was the unifying theme of a government team that was built to last despite the apparent contrasts including the nomination of Le Maire and budget minister Gerald Darmanin on the finance side. The LR party those three left behind still hopes to win enough seats in the elections on June 11 and 18 to deprive Macron of a majority and force him into a cohabitation. — Reuters
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