“How can we find a Prime Minister who creates consensus?” asked BFM TV has Philippe Marini, mayor LR of Compiègne. The former senator, chairman of the finance committee, responded to a interview regarding the future governmentafter the resignation of Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
“The Assembly remains what it is, that is to say, without a majority,” he said. The only possible path is to set up a government, which I would describe as technical, or of general interest as Emmanuel Macron describes it. But in any case, a minimal government, especially not with 42 ministers, because we have to make savings. A minimum of ministers must be able to keep the state machine running, to pass a truly minimalist finance law, to collect taxes, pay salaries, without any new measures…
Any new measure would require recourse to the National Assembly. And we could always see the conjunction of opposites and extremes taking place again. All this will, I think, go smoothly until the fatal renewal of the National Assembly at the end of next summer.”
“The state machine must continue to run”
As former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, what is your view on the absence of a budget? And on Macron’s announcement of a special law for mid-December?
“This is the minimum we must do and must do. Because the state machine must continue to run. The savings measures imposed on local authorities in the Barnier project would not apply. This also means that the income tax scale would not be indexed. I am not convinced that the simple renewal budget is, in terms of balance, a much worse budget than the Barnier budget was. Especially after the concessions made at the end to try to avoid censorship.
“Stability is the President of the Republic”
Are you more optimistic or pessimistic?
“At this stage, the financial markets are still reacting calmly. It is essential that France benefits from stability. Stability is the President of the Republic, even if I am not close to him. It is essential that it retains its functions. And he must avoid pranks like dissolution. He himself admitted that it was not necessarily the best of his initiatives. But it is he who embodies the continuity of the State. In the institutions of the Fifth Republic, it is the keystone.
The President of the Republic is fully legitimate in appointing a new government, which he says is of general interest, and which I for my part describe as technical. With a minimum of ministers so that the State continues to function, until the moment when the floor is given back to the voters.”
