What would politics be without its stunts, its low blows, its twisted blows, its dirty tricks…? Because, as Edouard Philippe would say, “we have to do things seriously without taking ourselves seriously”, the political service of L’Express offers to immerse you in the corridors of power thanks to a weekly meeting, every Thursday, on our website.
The wolves are in the doghouse
By wanting to defend the bill on the reintegration of unvaccinated caregivers within the parliamentary niche of the RN, the deputy LFI Caroline Fiat has annoyed more than one within the Nupes. The mix of genres with Marine Le Pen’s party? An EELV MP does not even want to hear about it: “I do not forget my history lessons and what happens when you vote with the far right.” In the wake of Fiat’s announcement – made “without warning anyone”, moderates an LFI executive – PS deputy Jérôme Guedj wrote a most angry message to his rebellious allies, asking them to cut their necks off the text. “We’ll take care of it tomorrow,” replied Manuel Bompard illico presto. Clémentine Autain, too, reassured her friends at the rose: “it will be settled.”
The next morning, the rebellious met so early in the morning to reframe Caroline Fiat, remove the text and calm things down with her partners. If no agreement was therefore reached between LFI and the RN, confusion still reigned on the left for 24 hours. In a tweet, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had to clarify the situation himself: “The LFI group withdraws its text usurped by the RN. The border is clear. Macronie and the RN vote together against the tenants and for insecurity. The boundary is blurred on the right. And when everything is blurry, wolves are everywhere.
The ambitions of Marion Maréchal and the nostalgia of Eric Zemmour
The vice-president of Reconquête thinks of the European elections of 2024, of which she hopes to be at the top of the list. For the moment, the granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen is suspended to the decision of Eric Zemmour, who does not exclude to present himself. In private, she regretted that the latter was still “in the nostalgia of the presidential campaign”. “We have to stop rehashing the past every day by explaining that it’s everyone’s fault except ours,” slipped the young woman to an interlocutor. Needless to say that the release of the next book by Eric Zemmour, where the president of Reconquest returns to the reasons for the failures and successes of his campaign, does not enthuse him…
Sarkozy’s plea for Qatar
Nicolas Sarkozy took advantage of an intervention before the CRIF (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France), Sunday, December 4, to deliver a vibrant plea in favor of the organization of the World Cup in Qatar. “There is a popular word that I don’t like, it’s the word consensus, began the former president. What is expected of a political leader? A vision. All short-sighted can’t understand.” “The most beautiful thing about this World Cup, he continued, is that for the first time in the history of the World Cups, all the continents are represented in the round of 16: Oceania, ‘Africa, South America, North America, Europe, Asia.’
He then defended his vision of football as a “universal language”: “Everyone has the right to play, everyone has the right to organize, it is not reserved for a few.” And to insist: “The pride of Muslims that a Muslim country can succeed in this organization matters a lot. The feeling of humiliation does so much harm.” Just before going to watch France-Poland, Nicolas Sarkozy concluded: “We used to say that people talk with their feet. Now people talk with their television. When I see the audiences, I tell myself that I am not the only one who thinks what I think.” Justice has been investigating since 2019 for “active and passive corruption” over a lunch at the Elysee Palace between him, Michel Platini and two senior Qatari leaders.
Communicator Anne Méaux chose Éric Ciotti
The influential boss of Image 7 exchanges regularly with Eric Ciotti, candidate for the presidency of the Les Républicains party. The former adviser to François Fillon preferred the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes to the senator of Vendée Bruno Retailleau, with whom she nevertheless nourishes an old friendship. Voluntarily discreet about her role, Anne Méaux does not appear on any organizational chart. In the ranks of LR, he is credited with several successes during the campaign: the very favorable coverage of the Sunday newspaperat the start of the school year (“Eric Ciotti’s plan to straighten France”, 4/09/2022), and the no less favorable paper by Paris Match (“Eric Ciotti, the uninhibited right”, 10/26/2022). “It’s false”, assures the interested party to L’Express. She recognizes however: “I exchange regularly with Éric, but I am not his political adviser, if he has an opinion to ask me, he asks me. I like him.” Something to help the Niçois in his race, the second round of which will take place this Sunday, December 11.
Xavier Bertrand, an eye on the LR Congress
The boss of Hauts-de-France, with presidential ambitions intact, is watching the race for the presidency of the Republicans (LR) closely. The former minister imagined Eric Ciotti winning the bet in the first round, and saw Aurélien Pradié finish the race below the 20% mark. In the second round, Xavier Bertrand will vote for Bruno Retailleau. A hardly surprising choice given his rivalry with Laurent Wauquiez, whom Eric Ciotti promises to nominate a candidate in 2027. A close friend of Bertrand thus judges severely the 43% collected by the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes in the first round. “The referendum for Wauquiez was cut short. We said LR monolithic and pro Wauquiez. This is not the case.”
Institutions: two commissions for the price of one?
Emmanuel Macron opened up about it to Gérard Larcher: he is considering the possibility of setting up not one, but two commissions to think about institutions. In reality, it would be a matter of making two circles work together, one with experts, lawyers and political scientists, the other with representatives of political parties – rather parliamentary groups.
Caroline Cayeux, odds at 1.01
If there are mischievous minds who were not surprised by the resignation of Caroline Cayeux following a dispute with the HATVP about the value of her real estate assets, it is the ministerial advisers. For several months, before the independent authority made public the declarations of the members of the government, these small hands in the service of their minister made small bets among themselves – free, of course… – on the name of the person who would be the best off in terms of the portfolio.
For them, it did not make a crease: the former Minister of Territorial Communities, whose property prices were rumored within this small world made of gossip, was going to sit without trembling on the first place of the classification. A rating of 1.01, as they say in the jargon. Some were even waiting with some impatience for the interview that would follow, just to see how the former mayor of Beauvais was going to communicate on this point. They did not have that pleasure.