Elisabeth Borne. The Prime Minister clarified her government’s roadmap during her speech to the Assembly on Wednesday 6 July. Elisabeth Borne invited the opposition to “compromises” to “build together”.
Without wavering, Elisabeth Borne set out the government’s roadmap and above all its method. Under the applause of the majority but several times interrupted by boos and groans from the opposition, facing the National Assembly on July 6, the Prime Minister defended all the lines of the presidential project and called on the deputies to “compromise without compromises”. The several times repeated expression of “building together” translated the desire of the tenant of Matignon to build its “majority of action” with the forces of the opposition on a case-by-case basis according to the texts voted. “The French people ask us to speak to each other more, to speak to each other better and to build together”, she pointed out, also Elisabeth Borne promised to approach “each text in a spirit of dialogue, compromise and openness” while reminding elected officials on all sides that “compromise is not about compromising yourself. It is to accept, each one, to take a step towards the other”.
The Prime Minister therefore placed her general policy speech under the sign of political openness but she took care to limit the field of possibilities by openly excluding agreements with La France insoumise (LFI) or the National Rally (RN). Without ever quoting them, Elisabeth Borne fired on the radical left and the far right, the former having been targeted by the denunciation of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s outrageous remarks about the police: “Shame on those who systematically attack our police officers and our gendarmes. Shame on those who try to pit the French against those who protect them”. The second being the subject of the fight “with intransigence against all forms of discrimination […] whether they relate to gender, religion, skin color, disability, sexual orientation”. On the other hand, the government parties were in turn mentioned by Elisabeth Borne who, mischievously, raised points of convergence between them and the majority: Olivier Marleix (LR) challenged on the state of public accounts, Cyrielle Chatelain and Julien Bayou (EELV) on ecological issues, Boris Vallaud (PS) on health or even André Chassaigne (GDR) on the cohesion of the territories. Interpellations which aroused strong reactions in the hemicycle. It remains to be seen whether the speech will have had the desired effect on the deputies.
Elisabeth Borne’s speech modeled on the presidential program
Elisabeth Borne articulated her speech to the deputies on three axes: purchasing power, ecological transition and “equal opportunities”, a third part which included measures concerning early childhood, health and safety. . It is clear from the speech that purchasing power is the priority of the government. Elisabeth Borne confirmed a series of measures to limit inflation which she presented as “the weakest in the euro zone”: the extension of the tariff shield on the prices of electricity, petrol and gas, the abolition of the audiovisual license fee in the summer, but also the desire to move towards full employment “which is within reach” and the implementation of pension reform. On this last point, Elisabeth Borne did not give a course, deliberately forgetting to mention the postponement of the starting age to 65 years. “We will have to work gradually a little longer and take into account the long careers and the arduousness. This government will lead the consultations with the social partners by involving the parliamentarians”, she declared in the heckling of the Assembly.
Elisabeth Borne’s speech then turned to the ecological transition for which the Prime Minister is personally responsible. To “win the climate battle” the former Minister of Labor is betting on the energy mix defended by Emmanuel Macron: “We will deploy renewable energies and we will continue to invest in nuclear power with the construction of new reactors, because the energy transition is going by nuclear power. Exit therefore the use of coal-fired power plants, Elisabeth Borne having set the objective of becoming “the first great ecological nation to get out of fossil fuels”. The other promise of the Prime Minister and the one we least expected is the announcement of the State’s intention to nationalize EDF.
Elisabeth Borne worried by a motion of censure?
A few hours before Elisabeth Borne’s speech to the National Assembly on July 6, 2022, LFI claimed to have tabled a motion of censure against the Prime Minister and her government. All the rebellious deputies, ecologists, communists and socialist members of the Nupes assured that they will sign the motion of censure which already pushes the counter to nearly 150 initials. But, the number of signatures should not exceed this level without the support of LR and RN who refused to join the text. The Nupes therefore remains far from the 289 votes necessary to see the motion of censure succeed and overthrow the government.
In its motion of censure, LFI insisted on Elisabeth Borne’s refusal to submit to the vote of confidence of the deputies after her speech. A decision which according to Adrien Quatennens is a “denial of democracy”. “In the absence of a vote of confidence, the choice is made to break with the current institutional balance of the Prime Minister […] whose legitimacy also comes from Parliament through this vote of confidence”, can we read in the document shared by MP Mathilde Panot on Twitter.
Elisabeth Borne was appointed Prime Minister by Emmanuel Macron on May 16, 2022, after weeks of speculation following the latter’s re-election on April 24. The Head of State had assured a few days before this appointment that he wanted by his side “someone sensitive to social, environmental and productive issues”, a personality “embodiing both ‘renewal’ and at the same time time ‘someone solid, capable of doing 20 hours in front of fifteen million viewers and of holding in the cauldron of the Assembly, during questions to the government'”, also said the entourage of the head of state. All with “an asserted ecological sensitivity because Emmanuel Macron has promised to appoint a ‘prime minister in charge of ecological planning'” (Le Monde).
Elisabeth Borne thus imposed herself as the one who ticked the most boxes in this equation. It even became obvious in the very last days before his appointment, especially after the outcry provoked in the majority by the hypothesis Catherine Vautrin, former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy who had fought against marriage for all during the quinquennium by Francois Hollande.
Before being appointed Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne was Minister of Labor in the Castex government, after having held the portfolios of Transport and Ecological Transition since 2017. Relatively little known to the French, which can constitute “an asset” in her new functions, it was however “more so than were Édouard Philippe and especially Jean Castex” when they arrived at Matignon.
A graduate of Polytechnique, a tenacious technician, deemed loyal, Elisabeth Borne is in any case perceived by Macronie as having proven herself in government throughout the last five-year term. This former chief of staff of Ségolène Royal, who was also prefect and director of large public companies such as the RATP, also has the merit of belonging to the left wing of the majority, an asset in the run-up to the legislative elections and the he hour when new social reforms are announced, starting with “the mother of the battles” on pensions.