Gabriel Attal’s general policy speech confirmed the rightward turn taken by the government. The Republicans, competing on their favorite subjects, are stepping up to the plate and denouncing an opportunist position.
The government continues its turn to the right and the Prime Minister is walking on the Republicans’ toes. This is the impression left on the political class, particularly on the executives of the right-wing party after Gabriel Attal’s general policy speech. “His roadmap takes up several themes specific to the right” noted an elected representative from franceinfo when another MP got annoyed: “He checked all the boxes: work, merit, authority, identity, the middle classes, Europe… There is not much left for LR”. Another Republican went so far as to blurt out Politico : “It looks like a speech from Fillon Prime Minister”.
A majority accused of “raking” to the right
After taking up issues dear to the right at the end of last year with the immigration bill, the government continues to advance on a more right-wing line. And the appointment of Gabriel Attal, from the left, to Matignon does not seem to put an end to this trajectory. On the contrary, the expressions used and the themes put forward clearly showed connections with the right: return of authority, defense of the middle classes, valorization of work even in the payment of social assistance… “It’s Sarko who wrote his speech for him, that’s not possible!” even an LR deputy got carried away in the columns of the Parisian.
The Prime Minister did make a few references to the left to ensure the continuation of “at the same time”, but the acting fooled no one. “The verb is from the right, the posture is from the right, the ideas largely come from the right. The Prime Minister is raking to the right,” noted MP Eric Pauget on X, formerly Twitter.
And within the majority some are delighted with this assumed turning point, notably the defectors from the Republicans. “When you are an LR deputy, you can finally understand that it is possible to work with the majority without denying yourself,” said Robin Reda, Renaissance deputy from the right, with franceinfo. Others are even more categorical and almost go so far as to place the majority on the right of the political spectrum like the elected official and former minister Damien Abad: “If some still doubted the clearly right-wing course of the Prime Minister, it is enough to listen to his statement!”
Eric Ciotti struggles, but struggles to keep control
If some MPs were seduced by Gabriel Attal’s speech and want to put the idea of a “government agreement” back on the table, for others it is simply out of the question. According to them, the speech before Parliament was more of a “campaign speech for the European elections, with the desire to defeat the RN and charm the right”. Eric Ciotti is the first to speak out against the government. If he could not boo the Prime Minister who defended right-wing ideas, he did not applaud him in the hemicycle either. Later, on, the president of the Republicans denounced a “lack of vision” in this speech which amounted to an “addition of small measures”, far from the “profound reforms and ambitions” that he considers necessary. “It is not enough to speak with the words associated with the right to act like the right” added the elected official from Alpes-Maritimes.
Eric Ciotti therefore holds his positions and continues to fight so that his party remains the reference for the right as well as an identified opposition force. LR, who had prided himself on having imposed his vision on the immigration bill by working with the government, became disillusioned on January 25 when he saw all his additions censored by the Constitutional Council and the majority celebrated the news. Some elected officials even cried “betrayal”. But faced with pressure from a majority that leans to the right and the National Rally which is gaining ground, the LR party is having difficulty holding its own. “Ciotti doesn’t know how to regain control,” slipped a Republican strategist to Politico. The game therefore promises to be difficult for the right.