Nothing had filtered: the press was kept away and the participants had to part with their phones… After twelve hours of the summit, Emmanuel Macron “validated” during his meeting with the party leaders the principle of the he organization of a “social conference” on “careers and branches below the minimum wage”, said Thursday, August 31, the entourage of the Head of State.
An adviser explained that this conference had been requested during the summit behind closed doors by certain participants, and that the president had made a “commitment” to it. L’Express summarizes what was said during this meeting.
What happened ?
The discussions behind closed doors began Wednesday at 3 p.m. in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, and did not end until after 3 a.m. on Thursday: twelve hours of discussions on the international situation, the institutions and “cohesion of the Nation” after the riots at the beginning of the summer.
At the end of the summit, Emmanuel Macron said that he would “send in the coming days a letter summarizing the exchanges and the proposed work titles, which everyone can amend, to continue” the discussions, according to his entourage. “Everyone has already agreed to meet again on the same format, under the same conditions, for a next working session”, we added from the same source, without a date having already been set. . A follow-up government seminar will also be held on 6 September.
According to an executive from the presidential camp, the discussions on the international situation were “constructive”, with a consensus on support for Ukraine. And those on the institutions showed that the need for “modernization” to “involve citizens more” was “shared” by all.
What does the RN think?
First to appear before the media at the end of this meeting, the president of the National Rally Jordan Bardella spoke of the “frank” debates, but said he was “unable” to specify what they would lead to. “There is no conclusion at this time,” he said. The leader of the far-right party claimed to have told Emmanuel Macron “that the pension reform had obviously created a gap between him and the French” and that a referendum on immigration, which he is calling for, was the ” only effective measure”.
What does Nupes think?
Arrived in groups of four at the start of the afternoon, the leaders of Nupes were only three in front of the cameras at the end of the meeting, in the absence of the number one communist Fabien Roussel. “We came, we saw and we were disappointed”, said the head of the ecologists Marie Tondelier, while Manuel Bompard, coordinator of La France insoumise, dropped by his side having had “the impression of living 12 hours on the planet Mars”, faced with an interlocutor who is not “ready to hear” the proposals of the left.
“We are far from the big night,” added the boss of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, who described a President of the Republic who “was engulfed in the proposals of the right”. The only positive point in his eyes, a presidential commitment to a “salary conference”, which the left alliance demanded.
What is the reaction of the Elysée?
On the Elysée side, we salute “a great political moment, a great moment of unity, recognition and responsibility”, believing that Emmanuel Macron’s “outstretched hand” had been “fruitful” in view of the duration of the exchanges.