Speaker 1: Michelle Barney was brought in with his legendary negotiation skills
Speaker 1: to try and bring together Parliament to be able to
Speaker 1: pass a budget. He failed, and question turns now to
Speaker 1: who could possibly succeed him this as investors are watching
Speaker 1: closely what's happening as well. I'm just looking at the
Speaker 1: latest commentary out of the Moody's Ratings Agency talking about
Speaker 1: the fall of the Barneer government, deepening the country's political
Speaker 1: stalemate and also contributing to a higher cost of debt
Speaker 1: as well, saying that this complicates policymaking in France, perhaps
Speaker 1: an understatement for those who are involved in it, given
Speaker 1: how difficult things have been in recent months as well.
Speaker 1: I want to discuss this and please to say we're
Speaker 1: joined this morning by the Socialist Party Senator Elen Conway More,
Speaker 1: who represents French citizens living abroad and as a former
Speaker 1: minister under President Francois and good morning, senator, thank you
Speaker 1: very much for being with us on Bloomberg Radio. How
Speaker 1: big a crisis is this? The President of the National Assembly,
Speaker 1: Yelbon PV is saying this morning this is a collective
Speaker 1: failure of politicians.
Speaker 2: Yes, indeed it is, but I think, you know, there's
Speaker 2: always a good side to any crisis, and this is
Speaker 2: a political crisis. It's not a financial one. We have
Speaker 2: a political crisis because we have, for the first time
Speaker 2: in the National Assembly three blocks. And obviously the fall
Speaker 2: of Michelle Barnier was quite predictable in so far as
Speaker 2: when two blocks come together, of course they get a majority.
Speaker 2: And I think Michelle Barnier raised a lot of hopes
Speaker 2: in that. Indeed, he has these credentials of, you know,
Speaker 2: being a good negotiator, but I think he failed in
Speaker 2: that one.
Speaker 3: He failed to.
Speaker 2: Be able to rally you know, the Democrats if you like,
Speaker 2: within the Assembly and turned to his extreme right to
Speaker 2: try to find compromises.
Speaker 3: And of course that got his downfall. So it was
Speaker 3: all predictable.
Speaker 2: Now what is unfortunate is that it's happening in the
Speaker 2: middle of the discussions that we are having on the budget.
Speaker 1: Who could do a better job at the point, would
Speaker 1: you want to see somebody from your party nominated as
Speaker 1: Prime minister, Well it could be.
Speaker 2: I think we need somebody who is capable of getting compromises.
Speaker 3: I mean, this is what we're doing in the Senate
Speaker 3: all the time.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a tradition that we have and
Speaker 2: indeed usually we get majority votes on most texts as
Speaker 2: we're capable of looking into what everybody wants, you know,
Speaker 2: obviously different vision of society and what may be a priority.
Speaker 2: But when you give everybody a little bit of what
Speaker 2: they want, it works. So I think we need somebody
Speaker 2: who is capable today of getting these compromises, and certainly
Speaker 2: somebody who can form a government very very quickly. There's
Speaker 2: no shutdown as you know it happens in the United
Speaker 2: States with us because we have a number of articles
Speaker 2: in our constitution that allows us to manage in in
Speaker 2: a political crisis, which is.
Speaker 3: One that we're having now.
Speaker 2: I think that last one was in nineteen sixty two,
Speaker 2: so it's not pretty current in French politics to have
Speaker 2: this type of situation.
Speaker 3: But we just now need a government that.
Speaker 2: Will be holding together and maybe that will represent what
Speaker 2: the National Assembly is about now far more and just
Speaker 2: move away from the old style where we had majority
Speaker 2: and a minority. You know, it was a binary system
Speaker 2: which existed in a lot of countries. I mean Germany,
Speaker 2: it was the same, you know, and you know, an
Speaker 2: image of what the United States have, you know, with
Speaker 2: Republicans and Democrats.
Speaker 3: But now we have a lot of new parties, movements
Speaker 3: and so on, and therefore I think the political world
Speaker 3: needs to basically kind of work, you know, on a
Speaker 3: new setup which you know, it's kind of changing its.
Speaker 2: Culture, and that takes a little bit of time, and
Speaker 2: I think this crisis is pushing.
Speaker 3: Them to do it.
Speaker 1: But your party is central to us. If we look
Speaker 1: at the makeup of the National Assembly, we know that
Speaker 1: the centrist parties won't work with the far right or
Speaker 1: the far left, so that leaves the Socialist Party in
Speaker 1: greater numbers. Since the elections last in the summer, what
Speaker 1: could convince the Socialist Party to separate themselves from the
Speaker 1: new Popular Front from the hard left parties and to
Speaker 1: join a sort of unity government of the center. What
Speaker 1: will be the key policies that would win your support?
Speaker 2: Well, the key policy is obviously social I mean we
Speaker 2: have indicated that we have we gave gave reservations as
Speaker 2: to what the money government was presenting while we we
Speaker 2: realized that savings sort to be made because of the
Speaker 2: deficit today that France has. But I think what will
Speaker 2: wish to answer your question would be a government where
Speaker 2: there is a representation of all those who are Democrats
Speaker 2: who believe that we can move forward together and having
Speaker 2: you know, discussions. I think the political leaders are going
Speaker 2: to meet with the president today, and I think if
Speaker 2: the President in his address tonight on television at the
Speaker 2: eight PM has a name that you know, he has
Speaker 2: discussed with all political leaders and which would be agreeable
Speaker 2: to all of them, I think we would be in
Speaker 2: a position to you know, participate in the government and
Speaker 2: indeed support and certainly devote the budget, which is the
Speaker 2: most important thing for twenty twenty five, you know.
Speaker 1: And then the end though of the need would that
Speaker 1: be the end of the new Popular Front alliance?
Speaker 2: Though?
Speaker 1: Would your party separate themselves from their partners in that alliance?
Speaker 3: Well, there are.
Speaker 2: Three are four parties in that alliance, and three of
Speaker 2: them are have indicated that they want to move forward,
Speaker 2: they do not wish the president to resign, uh, and that.
Speaker 3: They are very willing to move forward. So, you know,
Speaker 3: three out of four.
Speaker 2: So maybe it will be a new a new alliance
Speaker 2: if you like, with three with three parties rather than.
Speaker 3: Four of them.
Speaker 1: Two names from your party who's been floated around as
Speaker 1: potential candidates Segal and Royale, former Environment Minister and presidential candidate.
Speaker 1: Bernard Kasnov, former Prime Minister. Would either of those be
Speaker 1: people eat support well.
Speaker 2: Yes, of course, But there are others as well that
Speaker 2: have not been named by the media that will be
Speaker 2: potential candidates.
Speaker 3: But we will see, we will see.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it's not I think you know,
Speaker 2: we have learned from proposing a name that was refused
Speaker 2: by the President and we're not going this time forward
Speaker 2: with names.
Speaker 3: Just see what the President has.
Speaker 2: In mind in mind and then see if we can
Speaker 2: get an agreement on just not the prime minister, but
Speaker 2: the full government that will be you know, uh put
Speaker 2: in place and we hope as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1: Allen Conway, MOWA, thank you so much for your time
Speaker 1: on the program this morning. Socialist Party senator and former
Speaker 1: minister under President Francois Holand we appreciate your insights and contribution.