French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled his new government almost three months after a snap general election delivered a hung parliament.
The long-awaited new line up, led by Prime Minister Michel Barnier, marks a decisive shift to the right, even though a left-wing alliance won most parliamentary seats.
It comes as the European Union puts France on notice over its spiralling debt, which now far exceeds EU rules.
Among those gaining a position in the new cabinet is Bruno Retailleau, a key member of the conservative Republicans Party founded by former president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Just one left-wing politician was given a post in the cabinet, independent Didier Migaud, who was appointed as justice minister.
France's public-sector deficit is projected to reach around 5.6% of GDP this year and go over 6% in 2025. The EU has a 3% limit on deficits.
Michel Barnier, a veteran conservative, was named as Macron’s prime minister earlier this month.
Members of the left-wing alliance, the New Popular Front (NFP) have threatened a no-confidence motion in the new government.
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon called for the new government to "be got rid of" as soon as possible.
On Saturday, before the cabinet announcement, thousands of left-wing supporters demonstrated in Paris against the incoming government, arguing that the left’s performance in the election was not taken into consideration.
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Yeah I understand how time works, that's why I gave you list of sources that show historical progress over time. Not just a single event happening, but clear demonstration of long term trends. I guess that was just too complicated for you to wrap your head around.
Nah, that's just a simplistic straw man you keep building instead of addressing what I actually said.
What if you started addressing the actual points being made instead of playing word games.
Except I didn't ignore the wider context, I addressed your points and explained my position clearly.
Projection will always be the way of the liberal I suppose.
So as long as I give you similar data about France your protest argument doesn't count?
Household income in the last 50 years can be found here
I can't find the data on people living for less than $1 but you had another point about extreme poverty as well so we'll cover it there.
The income of the poorest 20% in France is in line with China. Can't link you the exact data but you can put it together in the same databank you referenced.
Amount of people living in extreme poverty in China and France
Home ownership is great in China and this is one place where France (and most western countries) can't compete with.
I'm not sure how concrete usage matters here so I'm just not going to look for that data.
In terms of rail usage France seems to be doing just fine. In fact France seems to be doing pretty well in the public transit area
Unless you really want to hammer in on the housing based on what you've shown France is doing as well as China.
I'm just building on what you've said. If you feel like it's a strawman, it's because that's the arguments you've given me.
Nope. If anything you ignored what I asked and gave me, at that point, irrelevant shit that you're now trying to make relevant.
Does that mean you're calling yourself liberal? Because you're projecting I'm a liberal but I'm a socialist.
That's an imbecilic argument given that France was in a far better starting position than China. What You have to look at is the progression over time, as I've explained this in the last reply. Evidently that went over your head. Household income is a perfect example here incidentally:
The raise in income for Chinese workers has been far more dramatic than for those in France. In fact, a typical Chinese adult is now richer than the typical European adult. https://archive.is/uzLgx
And the context for this, once again, is that China started from the state of utter devastation without any outside help after the revolution.
Incredible that you don't understand how investment in infrastructure matters. Where do you think all this housing, roads, and so on, comes from exactly?
It's because you either have low reading comprehension or you're intentionally misrepresenting what I said by cherry picking and omitting context. Feel free to reread what was said to you until you actually understand the points being made.
I didn't ignore anything you asked, but I guess you've already made it abundantly clear that you're not trying to have a good faith discussion here.
No, I'm saying that you're projecting your own behavior onto me here. The fact that you think you're a socialist makes the whole thing even funnier though.