Tuesday, dizzying for Olivier Faure. He missed his shot… The achievements of the non-censorship pact, built on the basis of numerous concessions negotiated hard over the past two weeks between the socialists and the government, have disappeared. The abandonment of the elimination of 4,000 positions in National Education, the abandonment of the project to extend the waiting period from one to three days for civil service agents in the event of sick leave and everything else … What the government had promised to the PS does not appear in the general policy declaration (DPG). Another hard blow for the roses: François Bayrou allows himself to put his two cents in the social conference to correct the pension reform imagined by Olivier Faure. If the unions and employers did not reach an agreement, the Borne reform would come into force, without going through Parliament as the socialists demanded, specifies the Prime Minister.
Duped by the government, isolated within the New Popular Front where the ecologists and communists abandoned them, with rebels who do not fail to mock them, the socialists believe they have missed their bet. Worse still, the pink house is divided, and Olivier Faure’s clan in particular. In a meeting on Wednesday evening bringing together the supporters of the Prime Secretary, several of them criticized him for his refusal, including after the DPG, of censorship, a risk-taking which could weaken the NFP. The vast majority of the socialist group, which gathered behind closed doors for more than three hours in the afternoon, does not share their opinion. A broad trend is emerging among socialist parliamentarians: two thirds of the group choose non-censorship. “A path is still possible” is what people around Olivier Faure believe.
“We can censor whenever we want”
In the National Assembly, the truths of one Tuesday are not always those of the following Thursday. This January 16, it is a little after 12:30 p.m. when the First Secretary meets with his national office, the strategic body of the party. The tension is palpable: strangely its followers continue to demand censorship. The pressure from Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s Insoumis is increasing. Yesterday’s internal opponents, led by François Hollande, are pleading for non-censorship, a response to the demand for political “stability” demanded by their voters. Olivier Faure takes the side of the latter and affirms that censorship does not seem to him to be the best option. “There is no longer a non-censorship pact on the table, and we can censor whenever we want. Should we do it right away? Either we say yes, and we expose the country to an early presidential election including Marine Le Pen would come out on top either we record various advances that we ourselves must not minimize,” he argues, assuring that the situation was all in all “a position of strength” for the socialists “which allows us to move forward. causes to which the French are attached and for which they elected us.
Sometimes chance does things well. While the socialists are still debating the merits of non-censorship, François Bayrou sends them a three-page letter. Everything that was not included in the general policy declaration is there, or almost. To tell the truth, the socialists could have written this letter themselves. In discussions the same morning with Eric Lombard and François Bayrou, Olivier Faure and Boris Vallaud demanded that the negotiated achievements be written down in black and white, almost dictating them over the telephone to the two ministers. The socialists can breathe: the crisis is behind them, and they almost save their honor, escaping from the shackles of the government as much as that of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “Everything we have gained there will be reflected in the lives of the French. It is a fundamental victory, and a strategic victory: the government is not engaging in a face-to-face dialogue with the National Rally” , welcomes the PS deputy for Paris Emmanuel Grégoire, who warns François Bayrou: “It is not a blank check. If we have been duped, we will table a motion of censure.” The socialists keep their bullet in the barrel.
Marine Tondelier’s “at the same time”
Much less divided than yesterday, the socialists nonetheless remain isolated within the NFP. From the podium, Olivier Faure insists: “We are in the opposition.” And don’t forget to include the rebels in your speech. A first since 2022 and the creation of Nupes. The ecologists and communists, who had participated in the negotiations before changing direction and deciding to vote for the motion of censure, are looking grim. They struggle to hide their discomfort in the face of “small socialist victories”. After reading the letter from François Bayrou giving in to the demands of the PS, someone close to Marine Tondelier cannot refrain from quoting Philippe Rickwaert, the main character of the series Black Baron : “From where I come from, that is to say from the people, when we can take, we take. Because we need them. We do not reject advantages because perhaps later in an ideal world you can get better ones.”
Just after the general policy speech, the ecologists confirmed in their heart of hearts that the socialists had been wrong. Here they are less convinced by censorship. Marine Tondelier, general secretary of the Green House, is getting confused. Her “at the same time”: she welcomes the gestures of François Bayrou, almost taking responsibility for them, but wishes to censor. “The concessions listed by François Bayrou are largely the result of the parliamentary work carried out this fall by the New Popular Front. Our discussions over the last few weeks with the executive have made it possible to secure them (…). We can be proud of this. “having protected the French from major social setbacks in perspective”, she wrote in the first version of a press release, while deploring the “inaction” of the government on the ecology front which its partners do not see. “We will come back to it,” she concludes, without specifying whether the Green deputies will censor. She will do so a few minutes later, in a second version of the press release: “First we have a motion of censure to vote on…”
As expected, the text tabled by France Insoumise was not adopted. Only 131 deputies voted for it, and, on the left, a few votes are missing. A communist deputy and two ecologists called in sick, including Delphine Batho. According to one of her relatives, the former socialist approves of the PS’s strategy. Olivier Faure and Boris Vallaud limit the damage: only eight socialists voted for censure. This morning again, before François Bayrou’s letter, the supporters of censorship in the socialist group were much more numerous. A PS executive breathes, relieved: “We managed to make people understand what we were doing, that we were not doing something shameful. We managed to extract things.” Happy Sisyphus.