This is Emmanuel Macron’s great back-to-school initiative: the launch of the National Council for Refoundation. A body in which the president aimed to bring together representatives of citizens, trade unions and political forces to jointly invent a “ new method of work. Except that the opposition parties boycotted the meeting. Can we already speak of a “flop” of the CNR?
In any case, this is what the political opponents of Emmanuel Macron wanted to send as a message by refusing the invitation of the President of the Republic. To hear them, they don’t want him” serve the soup ” By participating to his ” thing ». Even Gerard Larcher, the generally restrained president of Les Républicains du Sénat, said “no” saying that Emmanuel Macron was trying to play the “ participative democracy ” against the ” representative democracy In other words, the president was trying to circumvent Parliament, where he now only has a relative majority.
A blow from the snout in the new method praised by Emmanuel Macron?
A game of postures where everyone is in their role. opposition fears to see Emmanuel Macron redo the blow of the great debate, she does not want to get caught up in the game of the president who, for him, has a good game of saying that ” The absent are always wrong “. The executive defends himself: At least we try “, implied, if it does not work, it will not be our fault.
An Elysian adviser explains that the National Council for Refoundation must allow “ zoom out to diagnose strengths and weaknesses of France because what the president wants is “making history by making the right decisions “while the opposition parties are, according to him, “dalready in the next election “.
The government spokesman, Olivier Véran, still takes the bet that ” at the time of the conclusions, everyone will be around the table “. Especially since Emmanuel Macron does not exclude that the debates lead to referendumswhich makes a minister say that it will do “ stop sulking fast enough “.
Does it look a bit like the Coué method?
The doubts are expressed even in the majority. A member of the government fears that without the political parties, the Council will turn into a mere “ forum for discussion between the majority and civil society “. And especially at the moment, the CNR has not entered the atmosphere. According to an Ifop survey, 50% of French people have never heard of it. It’s not easy to sell them a new method, which looks a lot like a mix of the big march from the 2017 campaign, the citizens’ convention on the climatet and big debate post yellow vests. In short, to make something new with something old.