France unveils more right-wing government after deadlock

Legislator Antoine Armand appointed finance minister

Jean-Noel Barrot promoted to Foreign Minister

Far-right Bruno Retailleau becomes interior minister

(Adds more from ministerial announcements, quote from the Minister of Finance in paragraph 6)

Authors: Michel Rose and Mathieu Rosemain

PARIS, Sept 21 (Reuters) – France announced a new government on Saturday aimed at striking a balance between the right and centrists, as Prime Minister Michel Barnier hopes to break the political deadlock following early elections in which parliament failed to secure a majority.

After 2½ months of political uncertainty following centrist President Emmanuel Macron’s surprise decision to call early elections, Barnier has appointed a cabinet that he hopes will find support from all parties in a divided parliament.

His team, which does not include many political heavyweights, includes one of the leaders of former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative party, Bruno Retailleau, who negotiated the coveted post of interior minister as the price of support in parliament.

However, in a showpiece display of the government’s weakness, the prestigious post of finance minister was given to a little-known 33-year-old, Antoine Armand from Macron’s party, after he was rejected by more experienced politicians.

The public finance ministry, shared with new budget minister Laurent Saint-Martin, will face the unpleasant task of drafting a budget bill before January, at a time when France is struggling to bring a rising budget deficit under control.

“We need to reduce public spending and make it more efficient,” Armand told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper in an interview published Saturday. “If the solution was to raise taxes, France would have long ago become the world’s superpower.”

“YIELDS AND MANEUVERS”

But despite the entry of 10 politicians from Barnier’s conservative Republicans (LR) party into the cabinet, Macron kept several outgoing ministers in key positions. Only one leftist politician joined the cabinet, Didier Migaud, as justice minister.

Jean-Noel Barrot, the outgoing minister for Europe, has been promoted to foreign minister.

Sebastien Lecornu will remain Defense Minister.

Earlier this month, Macron appointed Barnier, a former European Union Brexit negotiator and 73-year-old veteran politician, as prime minister, but the lengthy talks he had to lead to put together a team were an illustration of the difficult task ahead.

The centrist and conservative parties have managed to join forces, but to stay in power and push laws through a closely divided parliament they will have to rely on others, notably Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN).

“The centrist government is de facto a minority administration,” Eurointelligence analysts wrote in a note. Its ministers “will not only have to agree with each other, but will also need the votes of opposition parties to get its bills passed by the assembly. That means offering even more concessions and maneuvers.”

The RN has given tacit support to Barnier’s candidacy for prime minister, but has reserved the right to withdraw at any time if its concerns on immigration, security or other issues are not addressed.

“I am angry to see a government that looks set to recycle all the elections it has lost,” Mathilde Panot, who leads the far-left LFI lawmakers group, told TF1 television. (Additional reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Tassilo Hummel; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Helen Popper)