Secretary of State Sabrina Agresti-Roubache multiplied government “opinions of wisdom” on Tuesday in the National Assembly on amendments from the National Rally. Enough to enrage the majority and attract the wrath of the opposition.
Macronie in trouble. This is a position that most would have gone well with. This Tuesday, during a debate on the bill to strengthen the fight against sectarian aberrations, the Secretary of State to the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories and the Minister of Ecological Transition and Cohesion of the territories, responsible for Citizenship, Sabrina Agresti-Roubache has attracted the wrath of her political family.
A Secretary of State deemed too lenient with the RN
Two amendments were tabled by the National Rally (RN) deputy, Thomas Ménage, and put to the vote by the Insoumise session president, Caroline Fiat. While the Macronist rapporteur gave an unfavorable opinion, Sabrina Agresti-Roubache took the opposite view: “It will be an opinion of wisdom, and it is completely accepted” she indicated. A confusing posture for its own majority.
The president of the Renaissance group in the National Assembly Sylvain Maillard immediately requested a suspension of the session. The moment for him to go down towards the bench of ministers to call the Secretary of State to order. “Several of us were disturbed to hear the minister explain to us that she was against these amendments but called for an opinion of wisdom, and even more for amendments coming from the extreme right!” explains a Renaissance deputy to Le Figaro.
The majority and the opposition criticize this declaration
This time, it’s too much for the majority, “President Maillard did well to request a suspension of the session. We will continue to have it beaten by the bench of opinions of wisdom” slipped, yesterday, a Macronist deputy to Le Figaro . For its part, the left castigated the intervention of the Secretary of State. As the debates resumed in the hemicycle, the ecologist Benjamin Lucas indicated “to have confirmation that the words of the president and the Prime Minister, who said that a coalition with the extreme right was needed, now found their parliamentary translation” . “It’s unheard of” regretted Sandra Regol, environmentalist deputy – Nupes for the 1st constituency of Bas-Rhin.
An amendment co-voted with the RN in 2023
So, does the RN rub off on the government? One thing is certain, the members of the majority are not their first attempt. Indeed, in March 2023, during the examination of the bill on the preparation of the Olympic Games, the RN deputy Aurélien Lopez-Liguori defended an amendment supposed to prioritize the use of European companies in the contested exploitation of images of video surveillance via algorithms.
At the time, this amendment was co-signed by the majority deputy Philippe Latombe (MoDem) then sub-amended by Eric Bothorel (Renaissance), Vincent Thiébaut (Horizons) and Laurent Croizier (MoDem). Subsequently, it was adopted without any opposition from the government. Today, this trend towards a “right-wing” of Macronie is coming back to the forefront and embarrassing its left wing.