People act more than talk.
We'll try to find solutions coming from everywhere.
The government will not pretend to have a superior knowledge.
I have learned in my long public life that good ideas come from everywhere.
Often from the bottom, the most humble of people.
When you take the time to listen to them.
Okay. At this point.
Let's bring in Bloomberg's candy corn standing by for us in Paris, covering
all things French politics for us, of course.
And Caroline, I know you and the team have been waiting for this moment on
tenterhooks. And finally, we have an answer.
Why has Macron chosen Michel Barnier? That's really the only name that
Emmanuel Macron came up with that he believes will not face a vote of no
confidence. And the reason for that is that the
national rally have said that they will not vote a vote of no confidence and
make this government collapse. So at least it could stay a little bit.
As you know, he's a very well known international figure, especially for you
in the U.K. He was in charge for the EU of the
Brexit negotiations for four years and was considered very tough, very patient
during those negotiations, especially when you had lots of divergence on
trade, on fishing, on the period of transition, first with Theresa may, then
with Boris Johnson. Before that, he was also EU Commissioner
for Internal Markets, who is very well known at the EU level.
Quite a reassuring figure for Brussels. Last time I interviewed him in Aix en
Provence back in July, the middle of those cold snap elections, he actually
refused to say he could be a solution as a prime minister, but said his redline
was any threat to the European project. In France.
Of course, he's been around for a very long time as well.
He was first elected MP in 1978. He was European Minister, Foreign
Affairs Minister, Agriculture minister. He even even tried to run for the 2022
presidential elections but lost in the Republican primaries.
Of course, the left wing today is feeling outrage at the far left leaders
and also has said the election was stolen.
The socialists said this was a denial of democracy.
We'll see over the weekend if there are some protests that could possibly damage
the credibility of the new prime minister, Michel Barnier.
Hmm. Okay.
So the response then from the far left. Look, this is clearly one important
piece of this puzzle. The appointments, or at least the
appointment of Michel Barnier. What is next, though, to build out this
puzzle that is the new French government and its policy agenda guaranteeing.
It's already the handover between Gabriel Attal, the youngest prime
minister of the republic, and Michelle Value, the oldest 73 years old.
Last night on these pictures, over the next few days, he's going to have to
form a government. That's going to be tough because it's
probably going to take some personality from the center, but also has to extend
a hand to perhaps the center left and the center right, as we've been
discussing over the past couple of months, if he doesn't want to see his
government collapse immediately, then he's going to do a general speech in
parliament. That's when he could potentially face a
vote of no confidence. And then there will only be a few weeks
before he has to present a budget. The deadline is October 1st.
As you know, France has been placed under an excessive deficit procedure by
the EU Commission. Last night, Michel Barnier talked about
telling the truth to the French about the budget.
We already know that the deficit slipped to 5.5% last year, much higher than the
target, and it's actually expected to rise even more this year, up to 5.6%,
because already an amount the previous finance minister has warned about
potentially too much spending from local activities, as much as €60 billion to
find. And some analysts have told us over the
past few days right here on Bloomberg TV that in fact, France could need even
more austerity, perhaps as much as 0.3 0.5% of new austerity in the new budget.
That would be around the equivalent of the savings from the pension fund.