Like others before him, Michel Barnier is charting his own course, ignoring criticism and pessimistic predictions about his future at the top of the French government. The 73-year-old prime minister was a guest on France 2's political program L'Evénement on October 3, and willingly cast himself in the role of an "anti-Jupiter," keen to open up a new page in French politics, seven years after President Emmanuel Macron came to power and imposed his vertical, omnipresent style.

"The president presides, the government governs [...] in the end, it's the country's interest that counts," he said, echoing the famous phrase of former prime minister Laurent Fabius when talking about his relationship with then-president François Mitterrand in 1984: "He is him and I'm me."

In the 45-minute interview, not did Barnier pronounce Macron's name. But, as if there was any doubt, Barnier clarified: "He's a president of the Republic, so I respect him." Their power-sharing is not a "cohabitation," he said, and he didn't hesitate to give his opinion on international affairs − traditionally an area "reserved" to the president. Barnier said he considers "Israel to be in a state of legitimate self-defense." He also admitted that there is "a very particular atmosphere" in the current legislature, "where MPs are shouting."

"This is so boring," he had heard someone say in the ranks of the left the day before, while he was giving his government policy statement in the Assemblée Nationale. To the rowdyness in the chamber, Barnier with politeness and stoicism. "I said to Ms. Panot [president of the radical left group in the Assemblée]: 'I don't understand why you're being aggressive like this, why you're shouting, you're making personal attacks against the president. There's no need for that. Me, I hear you, I'm listening to you,'" he repeated in Thursday's interview.

As head of a government without a majority, Barnier has members of his own party, Les Républicains (LR, right-wing), in his team as well as supporters of Macron. It is a minority coalition, he admitted, but "less of a minority" than that of the left and far right. "This base gives me legitimacy," he insisted.

Within this team, opinions diverge and resentments simmer. A few hours earlier, former interior minister Gérald Darmanin, who had been hoping for a place in the new government, scolded the tax hikes announced by Barnier in his government policy statement. "For the moment, the budget as announced seems unacceptable to me," he said on Franceinfo.

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