Gabriel Attal, very discreet since the defeat in the European elections and the announcement of the dissolution, will be the leader of the legislative campaign for the majority and himself a candidate in the Haust-de-Seine…
Following the results of the European elections, giving Jordan Bardella’s list well in the lead, Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of the National Assembly. This decision leads to the holding of legislative elections on June 30 and July 7. And since this shocking announcement, there has been a voice that no one had yet heard: that of Gabriel Attal, the Prime Minister nevertheless presented as very close to the Head of State, who was silent on Sunday, then absent for subscribers during almost 48 hours.
Gabriel Attal finally came out of silence this Tuesday evening, at 8 p.m. on TF1, by announcing that he would be a candidate in the early legislative elections, in the 10th constituency of Hauts-de-Seine where he has already been elected twice, in 2017 and 2022. Better, he announced in a very combative tone his intention to be the leader of the majority during these elections, which he considers very different from the European elections. A desire to “lead the campaign” of the presidential camp makes sense, since this is traditionally the role of the head of the government in place.
However, several press articles since Sunday have reported the astonishment in which Gabriel Attal found himself in the face of Emmanuel Macron’s decision on Sunday evening. The Prime Minister would not have supported this choice, instead proposing to the head of state to change Prime Minister. “I am the fuse, play my role as a fuse,” Gabriel Attal is said to have suggested to Emmanuel Macron in the hours preceding the dissolution. “No, you are the best to lead the campaign,” the President of the Republic replied, according to several media.
Gabriel Attal was therefore finally disowned, the dissolution having been decided by the president with his close advisors at the Elysée (Bruno Roger-Petit, Jonathan Guémas, Pierre Charon, Clément Léonarduzzi indicates The world Today). Disavowed, while remaining in office and now having to lead the legislative campaign. According to Le Parisien, Gabriel Attal assured Tuesday before Renaissance deputies that he would go “to the end of [son] duty” as Prime Minister to “avoid the worst” in the face of the far right. But he would also have judged that the Palace’s decision was a “sudden” and “brutal” decision. A term that he did not confirmed on TF1 a few hours later.
A resignation of Gabriel Attal almost acquired
It now remains to be seen how Gabiel Attal will lead this campaign which he obviously did not want to hear about. Especially since one thing seems certain or almost certain: in the event of defeat, which the polls on the legislative elections already announce, as in the event of a surprise victory, he is living out his last weeks in Matignon.
Gabriel Attal will indeed have to resign immediately in the event of a new snub from the Macronist camp. In the event of a victory for the National Rally in July, the future tenant of Matignon should, in fact, be chosen by Emmanuel Macron among the winners. This would then be the start of cohabitation.
The legislative elections, however, remain very different from those of June 9, due to their national and not European, or even local, scope, since the French are this time voting for candidates and outgoing deputies closer to them or even those they know. The voting method, which includes a second round this time, can also work in favor of the Macronists, in a context of tripartite political life and more or less forced alliances which will rebalance the vote reserves of each bloc on July 7 .
Despite everything, Gabriel Attal has little chance of keeping his position, because even in the event of an extremis rescue of his majority, Emmanuel Macron will once again be keen to take, once again, another turning point in his five-year term. . In the meantime and on a more personal level, Attal could find himself in a new political duel, facing Jordan Bardella, who will embody the National Rally in these early elections. What will become of him next? Perhaps he will return to local politics, in Vanves, where he was elected municipal councilor in 2014 and where he will, perhaps, be re-elected as a deputy.