World

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called for compromise on Wednesday in her first speech to France’s stormy new parliament where her minority government will need support from opposition parties to pass legislation.

“We will approach every draft law in a spirit of dialogue, compromise and openness,” Borne told MPs as she laid out the government’s policy priorities. 

The 61-year-old often had to push on through shouts and chanting from the floor, especially from the benches of the left-wing NUPES alliance, which called an immediate no-confidence vote on her leadership. 

After recalling her family history, including her father’s past in Nazi concentration camps, and her pride at being only the second French woman PM, she ended by saying: “We will manage to build together.”

French politics has been cast into an unusual period of instability following parliamentary elections last month that saw the ruling party of recently re-elected President Emmanuel Macron fall short of a majority by 39 seats.

Borne, a low-key civil servant named to her post in May, is expected to face constant negotiations to find majorities for each piece of legislation after failing to agree a formal coalition deal with any opposition group.

Though she was condemned by the hard-left France Unbowed party and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally on Wednesday, the crucial right-wing Republicans party signalled it would be prepared to work with her on security, immigration and tax cuts.

“We do not intend to paralyse everything at a time when our country is already so far behind,” the parliamentary head of the party, Olivier Marleix, said. “We are ready to vote for all the bills that contribute to a national renewal.”

Support from the 62 Republicans MPs would be enough for the government to pass laws.

Borne outlined immediate priorities that are expected to garner wide support, such as helping low-income families cope with a cost-of-living crisis and releasing extra funding for the struggling health service.

But she also set her sights on other policy goals announced by Macron during his successful bid for a second term in April, including plans to push back the legal retirement age to 65 and the full nationalisation of state-controlled power group EDF.

The company, currently 84-percent state-owned, is expected to build a fleet of new nuclear plants as a key pillar of France’s push for carbon neutrality.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the far-left France Unbowed, criticised Borne as leading a government without a majority and said she “offered nothing that would allow us to find compromises”.

Borne has already ruled out working with his party, as well as Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally.

– No-confidence vote –

Without formal allies in the 577-seat national assembly, Borne decided not to call a confidence vote on her policy speech — something almost all past prime ministers have done after their first appearances in the lower house.

Holding a vote would be “too risky” because a loss would have been forced her to step down, explained Bruno Cautres, a researcher at Sciences Po university in Paris.

France Unbowed, one of the big gainers in June’s parliamentary polls, filed a no-confidence motion alongside its Socialist, Communist and Green allies before Borne even began speaking.

“Without a confidence vote, we have no choice but to file this motion of defiance,” the groups’ joint text read, according to sources in parliament.

“It probably won’t pass but it’s important to make ourselves heard,” top LFI MP Mathilde Panot told BFM television.

Borne will be constantly vulnerable to a no-confidence motion which would need the support of the hard-left, the far-right and the right-wing Republicans to be successful. 

– Exhausted? –

Only two months after he was re-elected to a historic second term, Macron finds his hands partly tied and his capacity to push through reforms diminished.

The French media has speculated in recent days about his state of mind, with some reports suggesting he is yet to mentally rebound from the parliamentary setback. 

A cabinet reshuffle announced on Tuesday did little to inject new momentum into his government as he failed to attract any new heavy-hitters.

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Two Russian armoured vehicles, battered, charred and dented, provide a dramatic sight for visitors arriving at Warsaw’s historic Castle Square.

The T-72 tank and 2S19 self-propelled howitzer could almost be mistaken for museum pieces were it not for the mud and grass still stuck to their tracks.

The two vehicles were hit and then captured by the Ukrainian army near Kyiv and the northern city of Kharkiv after Russia invaded in late February. 

Now they have been put on show in the Polish capital as spoils of war, under a joint initiative of the Polish and Ukrainian governments entitled “For Your Freedom and Ours”.

The display’s message is that Ukrainians are not just defending freedom and democracy in their own country but for Europe as a whole. 

On a busy summer day in the historic square, pedestrians posed for photos in front of the armoured vehicles but others seemed overwhelmed.

Ukrainian citizen Vikka, in town visiting relatives, dabbed her eyes. 

“It’s hard to see this here. But it bears witness to the support that Poland has shown (Ukraine),” she told AFP. 

Warsaw pensioner Krzysztof scrutinised the tanks, his arms crossed. 

“We had Russian tanks roll into Poland in 1939,” he said.

“They were definitely less modern than these. But otherwise, nothing has changed when it comes to the mentality of the Russian regime.”  

Eight-year-old Sasha fled Kyiv with his mother Katarina in early March and crossed the border into Poland, among nearly 4.5 million Ukrainians to have done so since the invasion. 

“These tanks here show the war is real,” Sasha told AFP. 

His mother let out a sigh and said, “He knows a lot about the war. He dreams of going back to Kviv, and of becoming a soldier one day.”

The tanks will remain on display in Warsaw over the next few months before travelling to the southern city of Krakow.

The Ukrainian defence ministry plans to then exhibit them elsewhere in Europe, including in Madrid and Lisbon. 

The 21-year-old man arrested for a mass shooting at a July 4 parade in a Chicago suburb has confessed and told police he considered a second attack while on the run.

After fleeing the shooting scene in Highland Park, Illinois, Robert Crimo drove to nearby Madison, Wisconsin, where he “seriously contemplated” carrying out another attack, police spokesman Christopher Covelli told reporters.

Assistant State Attorney Ben Dillon said during a bond hearing for Crimo that he had voluntarily confessed to police that he carried out the July 4 shooting in Highland Park, which left seven people dead and dozens injured.

Judge Theodore Potkonjak ordered Crimo to be held without bail.

Senior ministers on Wednesday were set to tell Boris Johnson he must quit as prime minister, British media said, after a spate of resignations from his scandal-hit government.

A delegation was awaiting his return from a two-hour grilling by a parliamentary committee to tell him his time was up, BBC, Sky News and other outlets reported, without quoting sources.

The 58-year-old leader’s grip on power has been slipping since Tuesday night, when Rishi Sunak resigned as finance minister and Sajid Javid quit as health secretary.

Both said they could no longer tolerate the culture of scandal that has dogged Johnson for months, including lockdown lawbreaking in Downing Street.

But at the parliamentary committee, and an earlier question and answer session with MPs in parliament, he defiantly vowed to get on with the job.

“I’m not going to give a running commentary on political events,” he told the committee when asked about the cabinet delegation. 

“We’re going to get on with the government of the country.”

He added: “What we need is stable government, loving each other as Conservatives, getting on with our priorities, that is what we need to do.”

Earlier, Javid urged other ministers to resign saying “the problem starts at the top, and I believe that is not going to change”. 

“And that means that it is for those of us in that position — who have responsibility — to make that change.”

Cries of “bye, Boris” echoed around the chamber at the end of his speech. Most Tories were conspicuously silent when Johnson attacked the Labour opposition at prime minister’s questions. Some shook their heads.

– ‘Gone’ –

Sunak and Javid quit just minutes after Johnson apologised for appointing a senior Conservative, who quit his post last week after he was accused of drunkenly groping two men.

Former education secretary Nadhim Zahawi was immediately handed the finance brief and acknowledged the uphill task ahead.

“You don’t go into this job to have an easy life,” Zahawi told Sky News.

Days of shifting explanations had followed the resignation of deputy chief whip Chris Pincher.

Downing Street at first denied Johnson knew of prior allegations against Pincher when appointing him in February.

But by Tuesday, that defence had collapsed after a former top civil servant said Johnson, as foreign minister, was told in 2019 about another incident involving his ally.

Minister for children and families Will Quince quit early Wednesday, saying he was given the inaccurate information before having to defend the government in a round of media interviews on Monday.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, one of Johnson’s most strident critics, said the Pincher affair had tipped many over the edge, and there were moves to get rid of Johnson by the end of this month.

Other senior cabinet ministers, including Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, still publicly back Johnson.

But as the resignations piled up, many were wondering how long that may last.  

A snap Savanta ComRes poll Wednesday indicated that three in five Conservative voters say Johnson cannot re-gain the public’s trust, while 72 percent of all voters think he should resign.

– ‘Local difficulties’ –

Johnson only narrowly survived a no-confidence vote among Conservative MPs a month ago, which ordinarily would mean he could not be challenged again for another year.

But the influential “1922 Committee” of non-ministerial Tory MPs is reportedly seeking to change the rules, with its executive committee meeting later Wednesday.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a doggedly loyal cabinet ally and Johnson’s “minister for Brexit opportunities”, dismissed the resignations as “little local difficulties”.

But Sunak’s departure in particular, in the middle of policy differences over a cost-of-living crisis sweeping Britain, is dismal news for Johnson.

The prime minister, who received a police fine for the so-called “Partygate” affair, faces a parliamentary probe into whether he lied to MPs about the revelations.

Pincher’s departure from the whips’ office — charged with enforcing party discipline and standards — marked yet another allegation of sexual misconduct by Tories in recent months, recalling the “sleaze” that dogged John Major’s government in the 1990s.

Conservative MP Neil Parish resigned in April after he was caught watching pornography on his mobile phone in the House of Commons.

That prompted a by-election in his previously safe seat, which the party went on to lose in a historic victory for the opposition Liberal Democrats.

Labour, the main opposition party, defeated the Conservatives in another by-election in northern England on the same day, prompted by the conviction of its Tory MP for sexual assault.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne promised dialogue and compromise on Wednesday in her first speech to a stormy new parliament where her minority government is expected to face a constant struggle to pass legislation.

“We will approach every draft law in a spirit of dialogue, compromise and openness,” Borne told MPs as she laid out the government’s policy priorities. 

The 61-year-old often had to push on through shouts and chanting from the floor, especially from the benches of the left-wing NUPES alliance, which called an immediate no-confidence vote on her leadership. 

After evoking her family history, including her father’s past in Nazi concentration camps, and her pride at being France’s second woman prime minister, she ended by saying: “We will manage to build together.”

Borne, named prime minister in May, is expected to face a difficult task of building majorities for each bill after President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist ruling party lost its majority in parliamentary elections last month.

Macron has since failed to tempt opposition parties into a formal coalition, leading Borne to pepper her speech with remarks to the leaders of different groups when speaking about issues close to their hearts.

Borne outlined immediate priorities that can garner wide support, such helping low-income families cope with the cost-of-living crisis and releasing extra funding for the struggling health service.

But she also set her sights on strategic aims, including plans to push back the legal retirement age and the state taking full control of electricity generator EDF.

The company is expected to build a fleet of new nuclear plants as a key pillar of France’s push for carbon neutrality.

Edith Cresson — France’s only woman prime minister before Borne in the early 1990s under president Francois Mitterrand — told broadcaster BFM that her successor had given a “remarkable” speech.

“She covered the whole range of concerns of the French public” as well as paying homage to earlier trailblazing women politicians, Cresson said.

But NUPES leader Jean-Luc Melenchon later said that Borne “offered nothing that would allow us to find compromises”.

– No-confidence vote –

Without formal allies in the 577-seat national assembly, Borne decided not to call a confidence vote on her policy speech — something almost all past prime ministers have done after their first appearances in the lower house.

Holding a vote would be “too risky” for Borne, who would have been forced to step down if she lost, explained Bruno Cautres, a researcher at the Cevipof political studies unit at Sciences Po university in Paris.

“She made the right decision, but she didn’t really have a choice.”  

The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, one of the big gainers in June’s parliamentary polls, filed a no-confidence motion alongside its Socialist, Communist and Green allies before Borne even began speaking.

“Without a confidence vote, we have no choice but to file this motion of defiance,” the groups’ joint text read, according to sources in parliament.

“It probably won’t pass but it’s important to make ourselves heard,” top LFI MP Mathilde Panot told BFM television after criticising the premier for failing to call a vote on Wednesday. 

The far-right National Rally, which has 89 MPs in the new parliament, a 10-fold increase, said it would not support the motion. 

As the government’s work continues, Borne, a low-key former civil servant, will be constantly vulnerable to a new no-confidence motion, making French politics unpredictable and unstable for the foreseeable future.

– Exhausted? –

Only two months after he was re-elected to a historic second term, Macron finds his hands partly tied and his capacity to push through reforms diminished.

The French media has speculated in recent days about his state of mind, with some reports suggesting he is yet to mentally rebound from the parliamentary setback. 

A cabinet reshuffle announced on Tuesday did little to inject new momentum into his government as he failed to attract any new heavy-hitters.

It kept most senior figures in their jobs and brought in only junior new faces with little political experience. 

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