Ten days before the European elections, the hypothesis of cohabitation between Macronists and LR in government resurfaces and embarrasses the candidates from both camps. Follow the latest news.
4:00 p.m. – “If I had wanted to return to the RN, I would have had the opportunity to do so,” assures Marion Maréchal
“I left the RN seven years ago, if I had wanted to return to the RN I would have had the opportunity to do so”, declares the niece of Marine Le Pen, now head of the list for the Reconquest! by Eric Zemmour. “If I am a candidate today for Reconquest!, it is because I consider that it is the best place where I can be to defend the ideas in which I believe, which are not entirely those of the National Rally”, justifies Marion Maréchal on Sud Radio.
She specifies how her list differs from that of Jordan Bardella: “We have points of convergence, but we also have a lot of differences, particularly on the economic level, on social issues. I am not for the retirement at 60, I am not for increasing taxes, I am for reducing assistance costs, I am for reforming the French union system.”
15:46 – “There is no hidden Frexit”, assures Jordan Bardella
The National Rally is often accused in this campaign of wanting to leave the European Union without saying so. And for good reason, the party was in favor of a Frexit, before changing its position a few years ago. But Jordan Bardella protests: “There is no hidden Frexit,” he insists on Public Senate. He is notably questioned about his proposal to put an end to free movement within the Schengen area for non-European nationals: “We must change the Schengen rules”, assumes the head of the RN list, while affirming that “controlling your borders does not mean leaving the European Union.”
15:19 – Larcher, Barnier or Baroin in Matignon: Ciotti sets his conditions for cohabitation
The boss of LR, who until now claimed his party’s place in the opposition, is no longer closing the door to government cohabitation with the Macronists, according to the confidences of a minister to Politico and to The Express. Eric Ciotti would even have presented a list of three names whose appointment to Matignon could convince him to make an agreement with Emmanuel Macron: Gérard Larcher, Michel Barnier or François Baroin. The confidence, reaching the ears of the LR, created some tension in the party’s Whatsapp loops, according to Playbook, with activists denouncing the bad timing, in the middle of the European campaign.
14:51 – A government agreement between Macron and LR? Larcher will “take into account” the results of the European elections
Last weekend, The Express revealed what looked like negotiations between Macronists and Republicans with a view to a possible government agreement after the European elections. A dinner between the Head of State and the President of the Senate in March, confidences from Eric Ciotti to a minister… could the announced rout of the two camps in the elections of June 9 already be reshuffling the cards? ? In an interview with AFP at the start of the week, Gérard Larcher, head of the Senate, neither confirmed nor dismissed the rumor. “If the extreme right is really at 40% (…) we cannot act as if the French had not sent us a message,” he declared, adding: “Beyond my only “We must first take stock. Can we continue the current cabotage? That’s the question. What is in the country’s interest?”
2:10 p.m. – “It’s in the last days and the last week that it’s playing out”: Attal still in the campaign
1:46 p.m. – A six-party debate scheduled for this Thursday on CNews
The European campaign will continue with a debate this Thursday between six leaders, at the invitation of the CNews channel and Europe 1. Jordan Bardella, Marion Maréchal, Manon Aubry, Léon Deffontaines, Valérie Hayer and François-Xavier Bellamy will meet to compare their programs. Note that Marie Toussaint (EELV) and Raphaël Glucksmann (PS/PP) preferred to boycott the invitation: “Let’s not fall into this ambush organized by our political adversaries”, justified Marie Toussaint, calling on the other heads of the list to do the same. Only Raphaël Glucksmann followed suit.
13:02 – Manon Aubry wants to “break with all free trade agreements”
The head of the list of La France insoumise boasts in the columns of Figaro the “consistency” of his camp “in our opposition to free trade treaties and our opposition to budgetary austerity rules dictated by Europe”. For Manon Aubry, “the social Europe that we were so promised was a chimera. It resulted in mass relocations to Eastern Europe after the last enlargement, by the influx into France of poorly paid posted workers, through social dumping Today, we need action.”
12:23 – “Revolting”: Bellamy denounces Macron’s “maneuver” in these European elections
“I would like to express the revolting nature of the maneuver imposed on us today by Emmanuel Macron once again, which consists of acting as if the only opposition to his power was the National Rally,” declares François-Xavier Bellamy on Franceinfo. “Look at this European election, today there are many lists competing against each other,” notes candidate LR. “The French, if we are to believe the polls, did not choose to return to the duel which made up the 2nd round of the presidential election. It was Emmanuel Macron, aided by the public service, unfortunately, who chose to organize it again. But in reality, it’s an absurd setup.”
11:50 – Recognition of Palestine: “It is time for France to take the plunge”, according to Larrouturou
MEP Pierre Larrouturou, who leads his own list for the 2024 European elections, in turn calls for recognition of the State of Palestine. “With the announcements from Spain, Norway and Ireland, there are now 146 of the 193 UN member countries that recognize the State of Palestine,” he notes on It’s time for France to take the plunge and call on the entire European Union to do the same.”
11:29 – “Never in my life”: Bellamy refutes any cohabitation of LR with Macron after the European elections
A government agreement between LR and the Macronists? “Never in life will that happen,” says François-Xavier Bellamy on Franceinfo. While the rumor is circulating, fueled by declarations from the head of the Senate, the head of the LR list in the European elections brushes aside the idea: “The people who are today committed to the right, they would have had 1,000 times the opportunity to pass in another camp,” he points out. “Those who remained are those who are faithful, constant, consistent. They are our deputies, they are our senators, who, every day, lead the fight against macronism in the National Assembly and the Senate .”
11:02 – Bellamy tries to distance himself from Marion Maréchal on immigration
In an interview with West France, the head of LR’s list in the European elections was invited to explain the differences between his program and that of Eric Zemmour’s party on immigration. “I don’t understand exactly what his ‘triple border’ means, admits François-Xavier Bellamy in the columns of the regional daily. “We have a very simple line. On the one hand, defend Europe’s external borders together. We proposed, during the last mandate, the construction of physical infrastructure at Europe’s external borders. On the other hand, in this way regain the sovereignty of our States over their migration policy. We decisively refuse the idea put forward by Emmanuel Macron of compulsory relocation of migrants to a European country. This is not how we are going to get out of the crisis.”
10:43 – Marie Toussaint wants to “make the fight against poverty the backbone” of European policies
The head of the list of environmentalists calls for “a systemic change in all the policies carried out” by the European Union, with the establishment of a “social veto”. This “social veto” would imply that each European bill or budget be subject to a “social impact study”: “What impact do all laws, all budgets, all projects have on the 10% of the population of France and Europe’s most precarious? If we ever see that this bill worsens the precariousness of these 10% who are already the most modest, veto”, explains Marie Toussaint on France Inter.
10:20 – Glucksmann: “We will be the barrier against the far right in the European Parliament”
“I will fight to the end and I will never get used to this feeling of inexorability which is beginning to penetrate our societies which means that ‘in any case, Marine Le Pen will take power’”, declares Raphaël Glucksmann on TF1 . “With our social democratic family, we will be the dam against the extreme right in the European Parliament,” says the head of the list of the socialists and Place publique.
10:07 – The rumor of Macronist cohabitation with LR weighs on the campaign
A dinner between Emmanuel Macron and LR President of the Senate Gérard Larcher, confidences from Eric Ciotti to a minister… according to L‘Express, discussions are underway around a possible government agreement with Les Républicains. Enough to make those who are campaigning for two distinct lists in these elections, that of Valérie Hayer and that of François-Xavier Bellamy, cringe. “It’s highly explosive before the European elections, so everyone fears the reaction of the other, everyone is careful…” confides a right-wing advisor to Politico.
09:49 – Bernard Guetta, 2nd on the Macronist list, clarifies his statements on the recognition of Palestine
Bernard Guetta said on Tuesday that he was in favor of recognition of the State of Palestine by France, as a means towards peace in the Middle East. Since then, its head of list Valérie Hayer, but also the President of the Republic, have indicated that such recognition was not relevant. This morning on France 2, the MEP clarified his statements: “Obviously France will have to recognize Palestine”, he confirms, but “I never said immediately. I said that it had to be done, and that it had to be done, in my eyes, quickly.”