Emmanuel Macron began new consultations on Tuesday to find a Prime Minister, this time without the RN or LFI, after having swept aside the Lucie Castets option and thus aroused the ire of the left, part of which is calling for a demonstration on September 7 against what it considers to be a “coup de force”.
Key information to remember
⇒ Macron: “The door is open”
⇒ A delegation of the Republicans (LR) at the Elysée
⇒ A demonstration on September 7
“The door is open”
“The work continues. The door is open and I welcome all those who wish to come and continue to work for the higher interests of the country,” commented the Head of State during a brief statement at the Elysée, on the sidelines of the reception of Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris.
“The idea is (to find) a Prime Minister who embodies a change in policy and a move beyond the logic of blocs,” a close friend of the president told AFP, stressing a “desire to move fairly quickly.”
Macron understood that there was an “urgency”
Unlike the meetings organized on Friday and Monday, these new meetings to resolve a political crisis unprecedented in decades are being held away from the cameras. According to his entourage, the head of state has had contacts in particular with his allies François Bayrou (Modem) and Edouard Philippe (Horizons), and has received representatives of the centrist Liot group (Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories), which has 22 deputies.
Emmanuel Macron “understood that there is an urgent need to appoint someone, someone political, who has a chance of broadening parliamentary support,” the leader of the Liot elected representatives, Stéphane Lenormand, told AFP after his meeting at the Elysée.
A delegation of the Republicans (LR) at the Elysée
A delegation from the Republicans (LR) must be received in turn on Wednesday, including Laurent Wauquiez. The latter has so far ruled out any participation in a coalition, but has nevertheless suggested that, under certain conditions, his group might not vote against the budget, observes the close friend of the president. The same source underlines that the leader of the Front National deputies, Marine Le Pen, would not “systematically” censure a government “other than purely NFP”.
The PS divided
Presented as a scarecrow by its Macronist and right-wing opponents, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Insoumise (LFI) was not invited to these new consultations. On the other hand, “our door remains open until the end to the socialists, environmentalists and communists”, they specify at the Elysée, which is thus trying to drive a wedge into the unity displayed between the partners of the New Popular Front.
As early as Monday, the First Secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure had stated that he would not go to the Elysée for the second round of discussions, and that the Socialist deputies would vote a motion of censure against any government other than that of the NFP. A point on which the Socialist Party was divided on Tuesday during a national office, with the minority currents calling for not blocking the road from the outset to a government that would be led by a left-wing personality, not a member of this alliance.
Since the Elysée formally refused on Monday in the name of “institutional stability” to appoint a government led by NFP candidate Lucie Castets – who would, according to it, be “immediately censored” in the National Assembly – many voices on the left have expressed their anger.
A demonstration on September 7
This refusal amounts to a “coup de force”, LFI was outraged on Tuesday, along with several high school and student union organisations, which is calling for a “major demonstration” in Paris on 7 September. “We want as many people as possible to be on the streets” on that date, because “the anger is immense”, commented the rebellious MP Aurélie Trouvé on BFMTV.
“When Emmanuel Macron talks to us about stability, he doesn’t care about the world,” commented the leader of the environmentalists Marine Tondelier on BFMTV. “He confuses institutional continuity with the continuity of his policies,” she added, while the communist Fabien Roussel denounced in Libération a “coup d’état” of “unspeakable brutality.”
In this context, there is no question of the left continuing discussions with a president who “refuses to let us implement the policy we are proposing”, affirmed Lucie Castets.