The Prime Minister is in a minefield in the National Assembly. Michel Barnier expressed, this Wednesday, October 9, his “concern” about the lack of “solidarity” of the “different entities” of his coalition, which led to the surprise election of a rebellious MP Aurélie Trouvé as president of the commission. of Economic Affairs.
The entourage of the head of government “indicated its concern regarding the solidarity of the different entities of the common base which was ultimately not there”, while EPR (ex-Renaissance) and DR (ex-LR), allies within the government, each presented a candidate, Stéphane Travert and Julien Dive.
“The Prime Minister will continue to work with the government on cohesion and action on the common base in the National Assembly and the Senate to address the country’s challenges,” added his entourage, specifying that Michel Barnier had congratulated Bruno Fuchs (MoDem) for his election to the presidency of the Foreign Affairs committee and Frédéric Valletoux (Horizons) to that of Social Affairs.
Battle over committee chairs
Tension had risen in recent days between the Ensemble pour la République (EPR) group, chaired by Gabriel Attal, and that of the Republican Right (DR), led by Laurent Wauquiez. The right demanded a commission presidency in the same way as its new allies within the coalition and threatened to present three candidates against those of Macronie, to block their path. In the end they only presented a candidate to the Economic Affairs Committee.
But in the third round, if Julien Dive (LR) withdrew his candidacy, the right-wing elected officials did not support Stéphane Travert (related to EPR). Most abstained and one voted for Insoumise Aurélie Trouvé according to a statement from Julien Dive to the press after the vote. It was therefore the LFI MP who won to everyone’s surprise with 27 votes against 25 for Stéphane Travert. RN candidate Frédéric Falcon lost two votes between the second and third rounds, which according to several RN sources went to Stéphane Travert.
After this disagreement which led to the loss of a key position to LFI, Gabriel Attal deplored, during a group meeting, a “disastrous agenda” from Laurent Wauquiez, and a “fragile” confidence.