PM Barnier Looks To Put Together Gov't, Holds Meeting w/LIOT Group

Prime Minister Michel Barnier is holding meetings with senior representatives from the Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories (LIOT) group in the National Assembly as he seeks to put together both a cabinet of ministers and a workable coalition in the legislature.

• LIOT is a catch-all grouping that includes a number of deputies representing France's overseas territories, as well as some from Corsica, as well as individuals elected under the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) banner but no longer wishing to sit as part of the alliance. Its support would further bolster the Barnier gov'ts standing in the National Assembly (although still well short of a majority)
• Much like the process of selecting a PM, there is no set deadline for when Barnier has to assemble a cabinet. Usually the process would take a few days, but former PM Gabriel Attal announced some senior ministers shortly into his tenure before naming a wider group of junior ministers over a month later.
• The stance of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) will be critical to the success or immediate failure of the Barnier gov't. The pro-Barnier group of centrist Ensemble and conservative Republican Right deputies stands at 213, while the leftist NFP is 193. Should the RN and its allies (142 seats) abstain in any censure vote this would keep the Barnier gov't in office.
• RN deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy has said there will not be an 'automatic censure' of the Barnier gov't and that a 'structural savings plan' for state spending could garner the RN's backing (or at least abstention).