9:02 p.m., Sunday June 9. France falls into a dizzying unknown, after the presidential announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly. Since then, the campaign has been in full swing to elect the 577 deputies who will make up the National Assembly and who will shape the future majority that will govern the country. This Friday, June 21, the heavyweights of the presidential camp, from Edouard Philippe to Bruno Le Maire, no longer hide their disagreements with Emmanuel Macron. For its part, the New Popular Front presented in detail its economic program, between return of the ISF, increase in the minimum wage and a budget claimed to be balanced. Finally, registered proxies have already exceeded the 2022 level.
Tackles of the day: the heavyweights of the majority no longer hide their attacks against Macron
The little music has only been rising within the presidential camp since Emmanuel Macron’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly: the heavyweights of Macronie are far, very far, from blindly adhering to the head of state’s bet . In recent hours, several of them have not hesitated to tackle or distance themselves from the President of the Republic, more or less directly.
It was Edouard Philippe who planted the first banner last night. Barely hidden candidate for the 2027 presidential election and seeking emancipation from Emmanuel Macron’s record, the mayor of Le Havre did not mince his words against the latter. “It was the President of the Republic who killed the presidential majority. He dissolved it. It was not me who left, it was not rebels who would have upset him. He decided to dissolve it “Very well, let’s move on,” the former Prime Minister said in a dry tone at the microphone of TF1. At the same time assuming his own ambitions: “This other thing cannot be exactly the same thing as before. So, it is creating a new parliamentary majority which will operate on different bases. And I am ready for it , and that’s what I’m trying to build.”
Also this Thursday, it was Bruno Le Maire who also largely freed himself from the choice of Emmanuel Macron. This notably targeted, in a barely disguised attack, the advisers of the Head of State, such as Bruno Roger-Petit or Pierre Charon, accused by many of having weighed heavily in this bet with a very high risk of dissolution. “The floors of ministries and palaces of the Republic are full of woodlice. There have always been woodlice, it is part of French political life, and it is very difficult to get rid of them. The best thing is not to listen to them and to stay in your place, whether you are President of the Republic, Prime Minister, or minister”, criticized the boss of Bercy, on the TV5 Monde set.
The latest Macronie executive to be vague about his future this Friday: the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. Campaigning to be re-elected as a deputy in the North, the latter assured that he “will not be minister one more day” in the event of victory for the RN or the New Popular Front or if he were to be beaten in the legislative elections in his constituency, even a few weeks before the Olympics.
But even in the event of a victory – today largely hypothetical – of the presidential majority, Gérald Darmanin is far from ensuring that he would be ready to return as minister. “If ever the President of the Republic were to have a majority, it is he who would choose his government” he insisted, explaining that if the latter “thinks that I am useful for this position or another, I I will study the proposal of the President of the Republic and I will serve my country as I have always done.” No doubt: the battle for 2027 and the post-Macron era has indeed greatly accelerated.
Presentation of the day: the New Popular Front quantifies its economic program
It was an expected presentation, given the differences that were beginning to emerge within the left alliance on the real cost of their common program. The New Popular Front thus detailed this Friday the economic program defended for these legislative elections.
From 2024, the left alliance wishes to make significant changes in the economic orientation of the country. The New Popular Front intends to introduce two new tax revenues: the return of the ISF “with a climate component”, expected to bring in 15 billion euros, as well as a tax on superprofits, also estimated at 15 billion euros . These 30 billion euros in revenue should finance several expenditures this year: the increase in the minimum wage to 1,600 euros, a 10% increase in the civil servants’ index point, the repeal of pension and social security reforms. unemployment insurance, as well as the increase in personal housing allowances (APL) by 10%. These measures would represent expenditure of 25 billion euros for the current year, says the left alliance.
For the year 2025, the New Popular Front is counting on 100 billion in revenue and 100 billion in expenditure. On the investment side, we find in particular “hiring of teachers”, recruitment and salary increases in the health sector, “intensification of thermal renovation”, or even an “autonomy guarantee” for young people. under the poverty line. To finance these measures, the left alliance is counting on the “removal of inefficient or unfair tax loopholes”, a tax on the “highest assets”, the abolition of the “flat tax”, or even the greater progressiveness of the income tax and CSG. By 2026 and 2027, total expenditure is estimated at 125 then 150 billion euros, which must be balanced by new revenue.
Traveling this Friday in Marseille, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal did not fail to react to the announcements of the left alliance, deemed “irresponsible”. “It’s funny to explain that we are going to act for the purchasing power of the French” while planning “massive tax increases”, he criticized, qualifying “the programs of the extremes, the programs Nupes and National Rally, from crushers to the middle classes”.
Today’s figure: more than a million proxies already established
1,055,067: this is the very precise number of proxies which have already been recorded by the Ministry of the Interior for these early legislative elections. A level already higher than the 2022 legislative election, where 1,021,350 proxies were established for the first round.
Compared to 2022, between D-20 and D-10 before the 1st round, Beauvau thus records “6.2 times more proxies”. Even if this figure requires several nuances: the dates of the election two years ago being known much further in advance, the requests for proxies could have been spread out over time. Enough to partially explain this greater number of proxies. Even if, with nine days left before the first round, there is no doubt that this number should still increase significantly.
Today’s podcast: Republican front? Republican arc? L’Express explains everything to you
For a long time, the term “republican front” predominated in the political field, before being supplanted more recently by “republican arc”. What is the difference between these two expressions? What evolution in the French political spectrum reflects this lexical change? Our political journalist Paul Chaulet answers all these questions in the daily L’Express podcast, La Loupe.