France’s new prime minister stresses need for 'strategic Europe' to avoid submission to other powers

France’s new prime minister stresses need for 'strategic Europe' to avoid submission to other powers

Francois Bayrou vows to re-open talks on much-contested pension reform in his first address to lawmakers at the National Assembly

By Nur Asena Erturk

France’s prime minister stressed the need for a “strategic Europe” to avoid submission to other powers, particularly the US.

“France’s independence depends on Europe’s. And reciprocally, France’s prosperity depends on Europe’s, which is capable of becoming the globe’s first market, including in technology, industry and agriculture, equal to the US and China,” Francois Bayrou said Tuesday in his first address to lawmakers at the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament.

Bayrou, in this context, expressed support for former European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi’s report on the decline in the European Union’s economy and competitiveness, “which results in the idea that we must fight together for an investment up to our needs.”

He said if Europe and France failed to rebuild “unity,” they would end up in “submission.”

Donald Trump’s re-election and comeback as the next US president stirred Europe amid economic difficulties and debate on sovereignty. European leaders started to question their position in the world and to discuss policies to adopt regarding defense, security, support for Ukraine, trade and competitiveness.

Trump is due to take office next week.

Bayrou also announced his plan to review the pension reform that was adopted, despite massive popular opposition in early 2023 to raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030.

He said he would re-open talks “for a short period in transparent circumstances” on the reform with “social partners.”

- Economy, budget issues

Bayrou also stressed the urgent need to adopt a budget for 2025 and vowed to create a special fund “entirely dedicated to state reforms.”

“France has never been so in debt,” he said.

The debt issue and budget talks, particularly the social security budget bill, were the reason Bayrou’s predecessor Michel Barnier and his Cabinet were toppled on Dec. 4 after less than four months in office.

The no-confidence vote on Dec. 4 came two days after Barnier used his discretionary powers to pass the contentious social security budget bill without a vote in parliament.

After the government collapsed, President Emmanuel Macron announced that a special budget law should be debated and adopted by lawmakers before beginning work on a new budget for 2025.

Bayrou was appointed prime minister on Dec. 13. Opposition parties, particularly the left-wing party France Unbowed (La France Insoumise or LFI), vowed to submit no-confidence motions against Bayrou's government, and the first motion is expected to be voted on this week.

The country has been in political upheaval since June, when Macron's centrist bloc failed and the far-right National Rally (RN) party won European Parliament elections.

In response, Macron called for two rounds of snap parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7, but no party won 289 seats, a threshold to achieve an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

The left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP) won the most votes and seats in parliament in the second round and later insisted that the prime minister must be from the alliance, but it failed to nominate a consensus candidate for the position immediately.

After weeks of internal divisions, the NFP nominated Lucie Castets for prime minister on July 23.

However, Macron rejected a left-wing candidate and said he would not appoint a premier until mid-August after the Paris Olympics.

He faced criticism for delaying the process, fueling further instability after he accepted then-Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's resignation on July 16 after initially rejecting it on July 8.

On Sept. 5, Macron finally appointed Barnier, a center-right politician, former European commissioner and former foreign minister, as prime minister.

Barnier's government became the first one to collapse with a no-confidence vote since 1962 and only lasted three months.

Kaynak:Source of News

This news has been read 50 times in total

ADD A COMMENT to TO THE NEWS
UYARI: Küfür, hakaret, rencide edici cümleler veya imalar, inançlara saldırı içeren, imla kuralları ile yazılmamış,
Türkçe karakter kullanılmayan ve büyük harflerle yazılmış yorumlar onaylanmamaktadır.
Previous and Next News