Impassive, Michel Barnier pretended not to hear the booing aimed at the president. On Sunday, September 8, the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games brought the sporting event that has thrilled the country since July 26 to a close. Politics and its attendant concerns were coming back to the fore. Was the new prime minister, appointed four days earlier and standing on the official stage, not also targeted by the French people's jeers? Propelled to the premiership by Emmanuel Macron and forced to work together with his presidential coalition, the right-wing politician was trying to signify that, with him, a new chapter of the president's term in office was opening up.

The left, for its part, has denounced the nomination as a "power grab" carried out by a president who had been penalized in July's parliamentary elections. Moreover, they were enraged to see a member of Les Républicains (LR, right), a party which had come fifth in the elections, rise to the top positions of the government. "Barnier, get lost, we didn't vote for you!" read the slogans on the banners displayed at demonstrations across France on Saturday, September 7.

To consolidate his legitimacy, the 73-year-old prime minister has promoted a style and "a method" that stand as the antithesis of Macron's approach. "I'm not here to show off," he said on Saturday, on the sidelines of his first visit to Paris' Necker hospital in Paris, to demonstrate his priority given to healthcare and public services. This would serve as a way of countering the "performative speech" of Macron's line, in which many things are said without always being done, and the over-blown communication style of the outgoing government.

After years of "no matter what it costs," Barnier also stated that public debt would be brought back under control, and set people's expectations of him. "I'm not here to tell people stories," he said, warning: "If you come across a prime minister who tells you he's going to work miracles, watch out!" Finally, to those who had gotten impatient, he hinted that his government policy statement would be held "at the beginning of October." This was a way of saying that the composition of his government would take place at his own pace. No matter what others might think, notably those annoyed to see the country be under a government that has resigned on July 16. Barnier wants to take his time, insisted a source in the prime minister's office.

As a prime minister without a majority in the Assemblée, the former Brexit negotiator has held regular consultations, to refine his roadmap and put together his team, hoping to protect himself, as long as possible, from a motion of no confidence that could topple him.

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