It is always easier to unite against a common adversary. On May 30, Jordan Bardella and Marion Maréchal formed an unprecedented alliance against François-Xavier Bellamy during a televised debate on CNews. The president of the National Rally challenges LR to vote on the motion of censure tabled by the far-right party against the government, examined this Monday, June 3 in the National Assembly.
The head of the LR list in the Europeans barely has time to denounce a “maneuver” before a second bullet goes off. The Reconquest leader mocks the hypothesis of a government agreement between the right and the head of state, quietly mentioned by several LR executives. “You want to elect people who, the day after the election, will join Macronie,” shouts Marion Maréchal, before raising the specter of a single candidacy from the right and the center in 2027. Here is LR returned to its ambivalence. Here, frontal opponent to Emmanuel Macron. There, indocile partner of the majority in the Assembly.
“In every trap, there are only bad solutions”
Of these two faces, the RN wants to show the second. The right mocks the budgetary errors of the executive, symbolized by the deterioration of the French rating? She launched a commission of inquiry into the growth of the debt? Well, let her censure this government six days before the European elections! The frontist motion was officially tabled to sanction the absence of a amending finance bill. Its interest is above all political. “We want to force the oppositions to decide on support for the government’s budgetary policy, starting with LR,” admits the secretary general of the RN group, Renaud Labaye. The RN is ready to once again portray the right as a “crutch of the macronie”, if its votes are lacking.
Unless there is a surprise, they will be missed. The Republicans still refuse to give up and bring down the government. Concerned about its pivotal role in the Assembly, LR does not wish to vote on the motion of another parliamentary group. If he votes for one, it will be his. The party submitted to the government a series of red lines, ranging from tax increases to deindexation of retirement pensions. They have not been crossed. Eric Ciotti’s party finally still hopes to win back right-wing Macronist voters, whom it fears to frighten by provoking a political crisis. So, the right engages in a subtle tango with power, a mixture of rhetorical opposition and institutional collaboration. Even if it means undergoing a trial in collusion with the executive. “It’s a trap,” summarized Eric Ciotti on Tuesday May 28 in a group meeting. “In each trap, there are only bad solutions. The least bad is not to vote for it.”
“This LR/macronist doubt still prints”
This decision is exploited by the RN and Reconquest. Eric Zemmour’s party detects the weak signals of a future government agreement. Marion Maréchal launched this attack against François-Xavier Bellamy to feed the story of an isolated candidate, out of step with his political family. To distil this rumor is to call into question LR’s belonging to the “right”, a movement of which Reconquête claims a monopoly. “This LR/macronist doubt is still in print, a Reconquest strategist wants to believe. Do not overestimate the notoriety of Bellamy and the presumed particularity of his positioning.”
Eric Zemmour’s movement pulls this thread, but to what benefit? Only 5% of François-Xavier Bellamy’s potential voters make Marion Maréchal their second choice, far behind the RN and Renaissance, according to an Ipsos survey conducted in April with more than 10,000 people. Jordan Bardella could thus be the first beneficiary of this undermining work carried out against the heir of the UMP. François-Xavier Bellamy is not particularly worried about these attacks in private. Rumors in the corridors about an alliance? They do not go beyond the Parisian microcosm, judges the philosophy professor.
By all accounts, François-Xavier Bellamy is having a good end to the campaign. The candidate has gained confidence, and gained media attention thanks to a few publicity stunts. But all of his family’s ambivalences come to the fore at the end of the race. An opponent as fierce in words as he is pragmatic in deeds. A party determined to reconquer the Macronist right, but subject to the temptation of radicalism to contain the surge of the RN. Thus, a tweet with xenophobic resonance from LR on Algeria sparked internal tensions last week. A burden for his candidate, responsible in spite of himself for this strategic ambiguity.
.