Now that France has a prime minister, time to get a grip or risk facing the protest vote

In rocky circumstances, a name finally came out of the hat on Friday, December 13: François Bayrou, the president of the Macron-aligned MoDem party, became France’s new prime minister at 73. He succeeds Michel Barnier, of the same age, who was ousted on Wednesday, December 4, when the left and the far right joined forces. It is not just an appointment; it was a self-promotion, as evidenced by how Bayrou wrested the decision from a president who was more procrastinatory than ever, torn between the fear of losing his power and the behind-the-scenes deadlock being played out by party leaders eager to save their turf. In this phase of great uncertainty, the little credit left to the political world threatened to go up in smoke. It was high time to put an end to the bad joke.

France has a new prime minister, the fourth in less than a year, and yet there is no guarantee at this stage that he will outlast or outperform the others. The “man of reconciliation,” as François Bayrou likes to describe himself, the man who since 2007 has cherished the dream of bringing together reformists from the left, center and right to “find a way forward,” is going to have to quickly get down to practical work if he doesn’t want to leave Marine Le Pen as leader of the game.

Admittedly, part of the left has moved on after the shock of the no-confidence vote. The Socialist leadership responsibly chose, at the end of last week, to take a step toward compromise by dragging the Greens and the Communists behind it. The move isolated hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who found himself alone in calling for the removal of the president and the organization of an early presidential election in which he hoped to establish himself as the candidate of the left.

Weakening democracy

But the Socialists were fighting to have a left-wing prime minister installed. They did not obtain this and, like all the other parties belonging to the Nouveau Front Populaire left-wing alliance, remains in opposition, although it is open to an agreement not to vote no-confidence, the terms of which it intends to pay dearly for. Its main demand is that the government refrain from using Article 49.3 to force bills through the Assemblée Nationale without a vote, which will force Bayrou to make the necessary concessions on tax increases and last year’s contentious pension reform, two totems of Macron’s policies.

The right, in reaction, is wary and reticent. It asserts that its participation in the government is not a foregone conclusion, that it will be determined by the project that the new prime minister will defend. From the outset, Bayrou is subject to the same pressures from either side as his predecessor.

In his first statement, the former high commissioner for planning insisted on the debt and deficit issue, in an effort to bring gravity back to the political scene. The country has been at a standstill for months now, with the president losing a great deal of legitimacy and lawmakers so far unable to restore Parliament’s image, having failed to realize that the absence of a majority meant they had to compromise.

The price is a double weakening, both democratically and economically. The French are worried, some even exasperated. The president and lawmakers urgently need to get their act together, for the parties to look beyond their own interests, and for the coming months to be a time of progress. Otherwise, the protest vote will only grow stronger.