French Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who is likely to leave tomorrow, accused the opposition parties today of not wanting to negotiate with the government on next year’s state budget and that the financial cost of this tactic will be paid by all French people.

During a televised interview with France’s two biggest television stations, Michel Barnier said he still believed it was “possible” his government would not collapse tomorrow, saying it “depends on the MPs, each of whom has share of responsibility before the French”.

“The motion of censure is not a vote for or against Barnier,” he added, pointing out that the motion of censure was tabled after his decision to trigger Article 49.3 of the Constitution to enable France to reach its 2025 state budget. Michel Barnier did not denied that next year’s budget text could be improved, but at the same time rejected criticism that he did not cooperate with opposition. “When I arrived at the prime minister’s office in September, of course I called my political friends, those who agreed to support the government, but immediately after that I called two or three leaders of the Socialist Party,” Barnier said and continued: “They told me, before I opened the my mouth, we don’t want to see you and in any case we will vote a motion of censure against you”. On the same wavelength was his criticism of Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, which, as he noted, did not want to negotiate with him and its tactic was to constantly ask for more.

Michel Barnier also sounded the alarm about the effects of government instability on the country, saying that due to the failure to pass the state budget, “almost 18 million French people will see their income tax increase and others will pay taxes for the first time because we failed to include in the state budget the readjustment of the tax scales that we had planned”.

He also warned of the economic consequences of political instability, saying: “I look at the markets, I look at the spreads (ie the difference between interest rates in different countries), and I see that we are above Greece. You will immediately see the impact of this volatility in interest rates.” Finally, Michel Barnier did not seem positive to the idea of ​​being re-nominated by President Macron for prime minister, as he has the right to do, saying the following: “I want to serve but that does not mean that if I fall tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, they will find me again in prime minister’s palace as if nothing had happened”.