Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

To the brink

So France finally has a new government, after two weeks of intense negotiation (although that must have felt like the blink of an eye to new Prime Minister Michel Barnier after the roughly 400 years he spent negotiating Brexit).

These negotiations were not without drama and brinkmanship – I heard that the staff of one of France’s biggest daily newspapers were taking bets on whether Thursday evening’s announcement would be the new government or Barnier’s own resignation.

Now the challenge is keeping the disparate strands of the new government together, and fortunately they will have an easy start to the parliamentary year while they all settle in. Only kidding – the first task facing the new government is what our columnist John Lichfield described as “the most complex and potentially disastrous financial mess confronted by any French government since the war”.

Earlier in the week, Barnier announced that he is “discovering that the country’s budgetary situation is very serious” – which most people have interpreted as ‘brace yourself for tax hikes’.

Immigration 

Barnier is expected to give his Discours de politique générale (setting out his government’s programme) on October 1st, but he has already laid out his four main priorities:

• Improve the standard of living for the French and the workings of public services, especially schools and healthcare;
• Encourage businesses and agriculture and build the economic attractiveness of France;
• Get public finances under control and reduce debt;
• Guarantee security, control immigration and improve integration.

And it’s that last one that sent a shiver down my spine, as an immigrant in France. We know that Barnier himself is well to the right on immigration matters and his unsuccessful campaign for the presidential nomination for the Les Républicains party included a total halt on all non-EU migration.

There are likely to be severe constraints on what he can actually do with this government, and probably the urgent financial situation will be his number one priority, but this doesn’t feel like a government that will be especially friendly to foreigners in France.

Three-year drift?

There’s also a strong sense that many of France’s politicians are only half concentrating on the current crisis, with focus among many already shifting to the 2027 presidential elections.

I was at the left-wing Fête de l’Humanité over the weekend and although the festival was as fun as ever (great bands, France’s best regional food and drink and the Loir-et-Cher drinking game), I did notice how often the speakers referenced 2027.

Columnist John Lichfield made the same point this week, saying that the left is now starting a three-year election campaign.

So does that mean that all the real and serious problems that France faces will just be allowed to drift for three years while all the politicians focus on their own inter-party political jostling for position? Because that’s basically what happened in my home country of the UK between 2016 and July 2024, and the results are not pretty.

Talking France

We discuss the latest on the political crisis in the Talking France podcast, but we’re also focusing on the best-appointed French cities, border changes, what French kids (should) eat and the decline in the quality of croissants.

Plus what has to be one of the weirdest happenings of the last few years, how the idea that ‘it’s nice to be able to walk to the shops’ became a global conspiracy theory. Download here or listen on the link below.

Les rois

Among the political gloom, at least you can rely on Toulouse to keep the party spirit alive – the town this week staged a post-Olympics celebration for its local heroes, swimmer Léon Marchand and rugby player Antoine Dupont. The crowd did not hold back in showing their appreciation for the ‘kings of Toulouse’.

Mesdames et Messieurs, voici les rois de Toulouse ! 👑

Ce mercredi 18 septembre, Antoine Dupont et Léon Marchand étaient de retour dans la Ville rose et ils ont été très très très bien accueillis par plusieurs milliers de supporters Place du Capitole. pic.twitter.com/H76erOLvG6

— La Dépêche 31 (@ladepeche31) September 18, 2024

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.