After his letter to the French, Emmanuel Macron does not seem to be in a hurry to form a new government, nor to announce a possible timetable to clarify things. A situation that has started to make people grind their teeth internally, particularly among his ministers.
The essential
- Who will govern France in the coming weeks? While the New Popular Front wants the president to appoint a Prime Minister from its ranks as soon as possible, Emmanuel Macron expressed himself in a letter addressed to the French people, to set his conditions.
- The President of the Republic makes several observations, such as the fact that the French refused to allow the RN to enter government and that no party or political bloc won the election. In these circumstances, he “asks” the political forces that are part of the Republican arc “to engage in sincere and loyal dialogue to build a solid, necessarily plural, majority for the country”. Thus, Emmanuel Macron considers that the only solution for the country is a broad coalition that could go (without naming the parties) from EELV to LR, effectively excluding LFI and the RN. The Head of State does not intend to appoint a Prime Minister until this coalition has been formed and clearly coordinated.
- Following Macron’s letter, criticism has multiplied on the left and from the RN. However, the leader of the Horizons deputies – a party founded by former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe – launched an appeal on Wednesday evening to former socialist president François Hollande, recently re-elected as a deputy, inviting him to reach an agreement.
- The vagueness maintained by Emmanuel Macron after the publication of his letter is not going down well internally. “There are many of us putting pressure on the president to release us, we are no longer legitimate, we no longer have a majority. This has to stop!” conceded a minister after BFMTV.
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08:04 – “There is a ridiculous side. The mess at our place, it’s not the first time”
What government after the defeat of the presidential majority in the legislative elections? Emmanuel Macron is keeping his mouth shut. A situation that is starting to cause internal problems. “I don’t think the president will appoint a government before the Olympics because it already takes him six months to choose the colour of his tie,” regrets a member of parliament to BFMTV. “There is a ridiculous side to it, that’s for sure, but we’re not going to get close to that. The chaos here is not the first time. But everyone can understand that it takes time. The situation is unprecedented and the outcome is unpredictable,” notes a ministerial advisor.
10/07/24 – 22:30 – While Macron refuses a coalition with LFI, is the PS ready to change its position?
END OF LIVE – Guest of The Event on France 2 this Wednesday evening, the leader of the socialists did not escape the question. Standing firm, Olivier Faure assured that he had not changed his mind on the alliance between the Socialist Party and La France Insoumise. “I have chosen to unite the left and I will not budge,” he assured, returning the ball to the presidential court: “The French people have spoken, we must now respect their choice […]The President of the Republic must respect his duty as a republican, respect universal suffrage and respect the vote of the French people.”
10/07/24 – 21:43 – Yaël Braun-Pivet not against the idea of having a Republican Prime Minister
Invited to the set of the political show The Eventbroadcast on France 2, the former president of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, affirmed that the appointment of a Prime Minister from the Republicans “would not pose a particular problem”. She also extended her hand to the socialist Olivier Faure, who succeeded her on the set, as well as “to all the republicans who want to work in the interest of the country”.
10/07/24 – 21:18 – On the right, Wauquiez refuses any government coalition, first tensions observed
After being elected president of the LR deputies, Laurent Wauquiez said he opposed a government coalition this Wednesday. A position not always shared within his clan. Thus, LR deputy Raphaël Schellenberger considered that Laurent Wauquiez “does not project himself[ait] not in the exercise of responsibility in the coming years” while “there is urgency”, according to him. “We cannot just wait three years and let it pass”, affirmed the man who also made it known that he had not, “at this stage”, joined the LR group in the Assembly.
10/07/24 – 20:44 – “You must therefore appoint a Prime Minister of public interest”, pleads Retailleau to Macron
In a column published by Le Figaro This Wednesday afternoon, almost at the same time as Emmanuel Macron’s letter in the press, the Republican Bruno Retailleau considered that “since a Prime Minister from the last elections is definitely not possible, it […] We must therefore appoint a Prime Minister of public interest”. Inviting the President to “go beyond party logic”, he pleads for a “personality situated above clans and currents, a calming and incontestable personality by his competence, his experience, his sense of State and of the general interest” to be called to Matignon. What about the participation of the Republicans in a possible grand coalition? As reported by The worldquestioned later on the subject by AFP, Bruno Retailleau dismissed the hypothesis.
10/07/24 – 20:12 – Towards a Philippe-Hollande agreement to get out of the crisis?
While the left was unanimously offended by Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to “build a solid majority”, an appeal from the Horizons camp, a party founded by former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, was launched on Wednesday evening by Laurent Marcangeli, leader of the deputies from this party, to the former socialist president of the Republic François Hollande. It must be said that the latter recently returned to the forefront for a good cause during the legislative elections. Could the man who stood as guarantor of the left’s union by becoming a candidate himself, before being elected, be the solution to the current political crisis? “I was a deputy in his opposition at the time, but I recognize him […] “to be a republican and to know the meaning of history and the gravity that the governance of a country implies,” confides Laurent Marcangeli in an interview with AFP, whose The world echoes. “At some point, minds must come together and those who know the burden of managing France in times of crisis must take responsibility,” he pleads. More determined than ever, the Corsican MP says he wants to comply with the exercise proposed by Emmanuel Macron by meeting “all the political groups that are part of this republican arc”, and with the aim of forming a government “in the best interests” of France.
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How soon will the new Prime Minister be appointed?
Let’s say it right away, not right away. During his speech announcing that he would resign, Gabriel Attal specified that he would “assume[ait] [s]his functions for as long as duty requires.” In other words, Emmanuel Macron will not be obliged to accept it right away. As a reminder, he took three weeks before formalizing the departure of Jean Castex following the 2022 presidential election.
First of all, the future tenant of Matignon will not be known for a few days because Emmanuel Macron is constrained by his schedule. The head of state will not rush to appoint someone on Monday and he must then leave for Washington on Tuesday, for a NATO summit. He will not return to Paris until Thursday. We will therefore have to wait, at the very least, throughout the week. As soon as possible.
Because given the composition of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic will have the mission of finding a person with a program capable of gathering the support of at least 289 deputies. Otherwise, he would expose the government to a motion of censure which, if it were voted by more than half of the elected representatives, would lead to the overthrow of the ministerial team. So everything would have to start again.
The problem is that Emmanuel Macron will have to accommodate all sensitivities, from the left of course, from the center naturally, but also from the right. If the NFP came out on top, the head of state has already ruled out governing with the LFI deputies. So out goes these sixty elected officials, who could be compensated by the sixty LR who should once again join the Palais Bourbon. Finding a personality who suits the ecologists, socialists, communists, macronists and republicans will not be easy. Not to mention the programmatic points on which everyone will have to agree. The negotiations promise to be long and complex. Suffice to say that Gabriel Attal should make extra…
Who could be appointed Prime Minister?
A Prime Minister from the New Popular Front?
Who says unprecedented political situation, says total vagueness on the identity of the future Prime Minister. As soon as the results were announced, the left asked to govern, as it represents the leading force in the National Assembly. However, the New Popular Front does not agree on how to designate the person who could be proposed to Emmanuel Macron: is it up to the left-wing political party with the most deputies to impose a figure or for all the elected representatives of the NFP to vote among several proposals?
Clémentine Autain (LFI) asked the communists, socialists and environmentalists to meet on Monday “in a plenary assembly” to designate a person. With one prerequisite: neither François Hollande nor Jean-Luc Mélenchon. In any case, the left wants to settle in Matignon. Emmanuel Macron has “the duty to call on the New Popular Front to govern” according to Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Marine Tondelier, Manuel Bompard, Mathilde Panot, Olivier Faure… There are almost as many suppositions as there are leaders.
A coalition prime minister?
However, nothing obliges Emmanuel Macron to give in to the calls of the left. The President of the Republic could quite easily choose to appoint another person, capable of leading a political rally from the left to the right, so that a majority emerges in the Assembly.
It remains to be seen who could embody this figure. The daily puts forward the hypothesis of Charles de Courson, the oldest deputy in the Assembly and a centrist figure discovered by the general public during his opposition to the pension reform. Point recalls for his part that the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, is often cited for Matignon. However, this last hypothesis has seriously taken a hit since it was the left that came out on top in the legislative elections. Even in the event of a coalition, the head of government would necessarily have to have a left-wing sensibility.