Vincent McAviney: Europe Correspondent on the shaky state of the French government, Emmanuel Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to address his nation this morning following yesterday's ousting of Prime Minister Michel Barnier. 

Correspondent Vincent McAviney told Ryan Bridge that Macron's future is increasingly uncertain. 

He says Macron doesn't have a Prime Minister or a government and can't hold fresh elections until the middle of next year. 

Barnier is staying on as acting PM, including for this weekend's reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A lot happening in France today. We've got Trump on
the way for the opening of the Notre Dame. We've
got the Euros I'm worried about they did, and we've
got Macron about to speak because they need a new
Prime minister, Vincent mecap and he's a UK europe correspondent. Vincent.
Has he picked anyone yet? Do we know?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
No? He hasn't. Emmanuel Macron has been locked away in
the Elise Palace. He is going to address the French
nation tonight on television to speak to them. It was
months between Gabrielle Atau, the last prime minister, and the
appointment of Michelle Barnier because Macron had called that snap
election which fully divided the French Parliament between his interests

(00:38):
the left and then Marine la Penn sort of far right.
Michelle Barnier was someone that Marine Lapenn, the leader and
longtime rival of Macron, said that she could do business with.
But the whole thing has collapsed, and it's all to
do with the rising French debt, their sort of debt
to GDP ratio. They now have more debt than their
annual GDP, breaking several EU rules on this and so

(01:02):
Michelle Barnier was trying to bring in a budget which
would start to address this, and it was rejected by
the House. So it's causing real problems for President Macrol.
Questions whether or not he can survive to the end
of his term in twenty twenty seven because he doesn't
have a prime minister and he doesn't have a government
at the moment. They can't have fresh parliamentary elections until
next summer, so real questions over his position tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, just madness really when you think about it, when
we watch the Olympics. So basically back to that state,
you know, no government, no prime minister, and no budget passed.
Romania has revealed it's been hit with an election in
deperience very quickly involves TikTok.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, unsurprisingly it seems to be coming from Russia, a
sort of cyber attacks and then trying to influence on
TikTok that's been ahead of their presidential elections this weekend,
where a far right NATO skeptic candidate who has praised
Putin before and has said he will end all aid
and assistance to Ukraine. So no one of Ladimir Putin

(02:00):
wants to maybe try and help this guy into office.
This is Calin Giorgescu. He is now a running and
the Romanian government and intelligence sources are saying that there
has been a lot of paid support for this candidate
on TikTok, using the algorithm and also cyber attacks to
try and benefit him as well. So it seems like
the usual hybrid warfare tactics from Russia against Europe.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Vincent, thank you for that, Vincent mcavinnie, our UK and
Europe correspondent.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live
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