“Let’s say that time is, as it were, suspended. We are waiting.” Green MP Lisa Belluco is in tune with her left-wing colleagues. All are helpless spectators of Michel Barnier’s first steps, between the chaotic formation of the government and the first hiccups within the executive. “We are condemned to be in reaction,” breathes Socialist Party deputy Dominique Potier. “There is spleen on the left,” summarizes his PS counterpart Philippe Brun.
Is this a decompression phase? The left has particularly been subject to the emotional elevator over the past three months. From the improbable first place in the legislative elections, to the furtive appearance – but a source of hope – of Lucie Castets, through the unsuccessful attempts to take the head of the government… And then the feeling of betrayal, the “illegitimacy” trials ” of the new executive. The coalition has also, and unlike the National Rally, revealed its cards: the NFP deputies will be fierce opponents of Michel Barnier’s government, censoring it from the outset.
At the risk of invisibility? “The visibility of the RN in the sequence of the general policy speech will above all allow us to show that Marine Le Pen is keeping the government on a tight leash. And that we are the only opposition,” nuance Danielle Simonnet, the former Insoumise now in the group. ecological and social. “We are clarifying things, unlike the far right. Which will not prevent us from participating in the construction of certain texts,” adds a pink parliamentary advisor.
“Having our own sequence”
Try, as much as possible, to attract light. Last Thursday, the four group presidents on the left met by videoconference, to agree on the attitude to adopt during these next two weeks of parliamentary session. Thus, the New Popular Front will table a motion of censure at the end of the week and will defend it a week after Michel Barnier’s general policy speech. A so-called “political” motion: “It will be reoriented on the content of the DPG, and not only on the “denial of democracy”, explains a group leader. This will therefore make it possible to bounce back on what was proposed by the Prime Minister, be more about substance than display.” The objective is twofold: to avoid appearing as a Pavlovian opposition, by generating additional media interest. “It will allow us to have two important moments in the Assembly, and to have our own sequence,” whispers a pink oil…
Try, as much as possible, to appear united despite the dual social-rebellious hegemony, a source of tension within the coalition? By mutual agreement, it is ultimately the Socialist Party which should defend this so-called “unitary” motion of censure, because it was signed in advance by all NFP parliamentarians. “Among the Insoumis, there is a desire to put a little water in their wine. And on the part of the socialists to no longer appear under the supervision of LFI,” analyzes a communist parliamentarian. Thus certain group presidents suggested that the deputies of the Union of the Lefts “mark the occasion” of a common entry into the hemicycle, on October 1st. Without the proposal winning the enthusiasm of the socialists. In this 17th legislature, there will be no intergroup either… The Nupes one had left some bad memories. Allow the union to have some limits!
Dizziness
After this sequence, some people feel dizzy. “It’s difficult to project oneself into the legislature. We don’t know if there will be a dissolution, and it’s obvious that this complicates parliamentary work in the strict sense, it’s not very engaging,” regrets Arnaud Le Gall , LFI deputy But we continue to implement a set of actions in our constituencies,” he puts things into perspective. Spleen returns, often. “Spleen is the absence of perspective,” adds Philippe Brun, who assures that the budget is one of them. “The left did not say that it would automatically censor it. In any case, it will be able to contribute to the budgetary debate, to make it evolve. Put itself in a position of responsibility, even if we can never return to the original lead of this government, under the tutelage of the extreme right.”
Others directly call for thinking after Barnier. But at the New Popular Front, the future is not unambiguous. “The aftermath”, for some, is none other than Lucie Castets, still largely supported by the Insoumis and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “Nostalgia for a conquering summer,” quips a left-wing MP. For others, it will be time to form new alliances, open to the center.
They did not fail to welcome the announcement of MP Sacha Houlié, the original Macronist breaking his ban: the latter claimed to be able to censor the government of Michel Barnier. Last Tuesday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon described the members of the left wing of the presidential party as “RN pass-throughs”, without “convictions or consciences.” Bernard Cazeneuve, approached in the summer for Matignon, showed himself last weekend as an ally of Modem, during the summer university of François Bayrou’s training. Michel Barnier has not yet delivered his general policy speech. But “after” is now.
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