• 2 months ago

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00:00Yeah well actually we are still waiting to see what the official list of
00:04ministers will look like but we do as you mentioned that appear to be nearing
00:08the end of a long period of uncertainty. It's been two and a half months since
00:12legislative elections were held here in France. On Friday Michel Barnier handed
00:17over that final list of 38 names to President Macron. Prime Minister says he
00:22hopes to unveil his government before Sunday so it could be today, it could be
00:25in the next few hours but there does appear to be some fine-tuning still
00:29going on. In terms of hurdles nominees need to be vetted by the high authority
00:37for transparency in public life. This is a body that ensures the nominees have no
00:42conflicts of interest, that they've paid their taxes for example, this is all
00:46customary. As for the names that have come out in French media reports all
00:51except one appear to come from the centre and the right so it's very likely
00:55we'll see fresh faces in key offices of state including in Foreign, Finance and
01:01Interior Ministries. As you just heard there Jean-Noël Barrault reportedly
01:06being considered as a foreign minister, he's currently Europe Minister.
01:1033-year-old Antoine Armand, a rising star from Macron's own parliamentary
01:15grouping considered for Finance Minister but very significantly Bruno
01:20Retailleau, leader of the Republicans in the Senate, of course the Republicans is
01:24Michel Barnier's own party, could land the post of Interior Minister. The current
01:30holder of that post, Gérald Darmanin, confirming that he won't stay in the
01:35post. That's a very important portfolio of course because the Interior Minister
01:39controls police and domestic security, immigration of course very high on the
01:44agenda so that would be a big coup for the Republicans if they land that post
01:47bearing in mind of course they came fourth in the legislative elections.
01:53Now we have had a fair few names leaked to the media in the past few days. We have a
01:57decent idea of the lineup of this cabinet. Who among those names are the
02:02most contentious potential appointees? Well actually I'm going to give you just
02:06a couple of names in a moment. It does indeed look like this government lineup
02:11will mark a shift to the right so there's been a lot of criticism that
02:16this cabinet doesn't include enough politicians from across the political
02:19spectrum to create a real government of national unity if you like. So there's
02:24anger within the ranks of the left coalition, the New Popular Front, of
02:27course that grouping that came first in legislative elections. It doesn't look
02:32like they're going to get any representation in this cabinet. So we've
02:37seen calls for protest today from key figures in that coalition expecting
02:42between 20 and 40,000 protesters on the streets of Paris alone and some other
02:47cities across France too. Now the presence of two names in particular in
02:52that lineup has caused unease amongst members of President Macron's own
02:57centrist alliance. So on the one hand as I mentioned earlier Bruno Retailleau
03:01being considered as minister for the post of Minister of the Interior. Now he's
03:07seen as a very conservative figure, far too conservative for some who say
03:12that he isn't a unifying figure so that could provoke people on the left. And
03:17another name in particular Laurence Garnier, she's a senator for the
03:21Republicans being considered reportedly as family's minister. Now her name is
03:26controversial because she was opposed to same-sex marriage. She was also opposed
03:32to the inscription of the right to abortion in France's constitution.
03:37Now there are rumors in French media that President Macron has ruled
03:40her out as family's minister. We know earlier this week there were tensions
03:45between President Macron and Michel Barnier over the makeup of the new
03:50government. Those tensions appear to have been resolved. Now we're just waiting to
03:53find out what the official list of ministers will look like.

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