The extreme right and the right are promising to censor the future government if it includes rebellious or left-wing ministers and are undermining the scenario of a grand coalition, while the presidential camp is sounding out members of the socialist left.
The essential
- Still no coalition in sight to form a new government, as Emmanuel Macron called it. The left-wing parties continue to negotiate to find a government team and a Prime Minister from the New Popular Front, but after the right, it is the RN that has promised to censure “any government where LFI and environmentalists would have ministerial responsibilities”.
- While the left is urging Emmanuel Macron to appoint a left-wing Prime Minister and government after the legislative elections, the presidential camp has instructed its members to approach the socialists to “sound out” the party, but without seeking a coalition, reports Franceinfo.
- It is appropriate to appoint a left-wing Prime Minister and to include the New Popular Front in the new government according to the former right-wing minister Dominique De Villepin who invites Emmanuel Macron to respect the result of the legislative elections. The head of state, for his part, estimated in a letter that no political camp had won the election and called on the political forces that are part of the republican arc “to engage in a sincere and loyal dialogue to build a solid, necessarily plural, majority for the country”.
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09:57 – RN Sébastien Chenu wants a “technical government without labels”
After seeing himself in government before knowing the outcome of the legislative elections, RN vice-president Sébastien Chenu calls for the appointment of “a technical government without political label” which must be “extremely respectful of the major balances and political forces present which could perhaps manage for a year”. Invited on RMC, he accused Emmanuel Macron of having “blocked the country” by “his incompetence and his cynicism”.
09:30 – A government coalition with the presidential camp possible for Aurore Bergé
Speaking to Franceinfo, Minister Aurore Bergé envisages two scenarios for the formation of the new government: either the New Popular Front “manages to demonstrate its unity and finally tells us who the person at Matignon will be, and also manages to expand” to obtain a larger majority, or a coalition allows for “a more solid majority” around a “central bloc, which is today the presidential majority, with three groups but which can also succeed in expanding”. Aurore Bergé also recalled “the outstretched hands” particularly on the right. “Things are moving, nothing is set in stone” she emphasizes.
09:02 – “Neither LFI nor RN” in government: Aurore Bergé confirms her position
The Minister for Equality between Women and Men has maintained the position she has had since the beginning of the campaign, namely not supporting either LFI or the RN. With the legislative elections over, she therefore refuses to see the rebellious and the far right settle into government. “If there were a deputy from France Insoumise who became a member of the government, he would be immediately censored,” declared Aurore Bergé on Franceinfo.
08:55 – The NFP must form a government, says Dominique De Villepin
Dominique De Villepin is one of the few on the right to support the establishment of a left-wing government, not so much out of support as out of respect for the institutions: “We choose the force that comes out on top on election night, that’s the republican tradition,” he declared on LCI on Thursday evening. “One of the risks, if we continue in the current confusion, is that everyone realizes that no one has an interest in leading this government and that the president finds himself faced with chaos,” continued the former minister of Jacques Chirac.
11/07/24 – 23:42 – RN backpedals: environmentalists are furious
END OF LIVE – In addition to the rebels, environmentalists were also targeted by Marine Le Pen’s remarks this Thursday evening, according to whom the RN “will censor any government” in which there are LFI ministers but also… environmentalists. On X, MP Benjamin Lucas deplored: “We see it again with this story of hypothetical censorship: Le Pen is only tactical moves. People’s lives, the substance of the subject, don’t matter. Coherence doesn’t matter. The interest of the country doesn’t matter. She takes the country for a playground. Miserable.” And Cyrielle Chatelain, the head of the environmentalists in the Assembly, mocked: “An honor!”
11/07/24 – 23:16 – Manuel Bompard protests after the RN’s about-face
“One thing is certain: the RN group will censor any government where LFI and environmentalists have ministerial responsibilities,” Marine Le Pen indicated earlier. These remarks did not fail to irritate the left of the political spectrum, in particular in the rebellious camp, directly targeted. “The National Rally is therefore ready to prevent the increase in the minimum wage, the end of retirement at 64 and the freezing of prices. Those who believed in their promises now see reality!” reacted the head of LFI, Manuel Bompard on X.
11/07/24 – 22:57 – Which coalition do the French prefer?
In the latest Odoxa-Backbone survey conducted for Le Figarowe discover that the French people questioned are more in favor of a coalition government. But are all coalitions equal? The three proposals suggested to the people surveyed garner more or less the same support. Thus, 40% of the French people questioned say they are in favor of a coalition described as “anti-RN”, which would bring together representatives of different parties or political persuasions, while 59% are opposed to it. A coalition between the presidential camp and the LR obtains 43% of favorable opinions, as does a coalition between the presidential camp and the New Popular Front. However, the latter receives very slightly fewer unfavorable opinions: 55%, compared to 56% for the coalition between the presidential camp and the Republicans. It is therefore the coalition with the left that seems to win by a hair’s breadth, even if more than one in two French people are still opposed to it.
11/07/24 – 22:26 – Are the French more inclined towards a left-wing government than a Macronist one?
25% of French people say they are in favour of the New Popular Front governing alone, compared to 19% who argue for it to be the presidential camp, reveals an Odoxa-Backbone poll carried out for Le FigaroIn both cases, the score remains low. Between seven and eight out of ten French people are opposed to these two options, with those questioned preferring a coalition more.
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How soon will the new Prime Minister be appointed?
Let’s say it right away, not right away. During his speech announcing that he would resign, Gabriel Attal specified that he would “assume[ait] [s]his functions for as long as duty requires.” In other words, Emmanuel Macron will not be obliged to accept it right away. As a reminder, he took three weeks before formalizing the departure of Jean Castex following the 2022 presidential election.
First of all, the future tenant of Matignon will not be known for a few days because Emmanuel Macron is constrained by his schedule. The head of state will not rush to appoint someone on Monday and he must then leave for Washington on Tuesday, for a NATO summit. He will not return to Paris until Thursday. We will therefore have to wait, at the very least, throughout the week. As soon as possible.
Because given the composition of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic will have the mission of finding a person with a program capable of gathering the support of at least 289 deputies. Otherwise, he would expose the government to a motion of censure which, if it were voted by more than half of the elected representatives, would lead to the overthrow of the ministerial team. So everything would have to start again.
The problem is that Emmanuel Macron will have to accommodate all sensitivities, from the left of course, from the center naturally, but also from the right. If the NFP came out on top, the head of state has already ruled out governing with the LFI deputies. So out goes these sixty elected officials, who could be compensated by the sixty LR who should once again join the Palais Bourbon. Finding a personality who suits the ecologists, socialists, communists, macronists and republicans will not be easy. Not to mention the programmatic points on which everyone will have to agree. The negotiations promise to be long and complex. Suffice to say that Gabriel Attal should make extra…
Who could be appointed Prime Minister?
A Prime Minister from the New Popular Front?
Who says unprecedented political situation, says total vagueness on the identity of the future Prime Minister. As soon as the results were announced, the left asked to govern, as it represents the leading force in the National Assembly. However, the New Popular Front does not agree on how to designate the person who could be proposed to Emmanuel Macron: is it up to the left-wing political party with the most deputies to impose a figure or for all the elected representatives of the NFP to vote among several proposals?
Clémentine Autain (LFI) asked the communists, socialists and environmentalists to meet on Monday “in a plenary assembly” to designate a person. With one prerequisite: neither François Hollande nor Jean-Luc Mélenchon. In any case, the left wants to settle in Matignon. Emmanuel Macron has “the duty to call on the New Popular Front to govern” according to Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Marine Tondelier, Manuel Bompard, Mathilde Panot, Olivier Faure… There are almost as many suppositions as there are leaders.
A coalition prime minister?
However, nothing obliges Emmanuel Macron to give in to the calls of the left. The President of the Republic could quite easily choose to appoint another person, capable of leading a political rally from the left to the right, so that a majority emerges in the Assembly.
It remains to be seen who could embody this figure. The daily puts forward the hypothesis of Charles de Courson, the oldest deputy in the Assembly and a centrist figure discovered by the general public during his opposition to the pension reform. Point recalls for his part that the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, is often cited for Matignon. However, this last hypothesis has seriously taken a hit since it was the left that came out on top in the legislative elections. Even in the event of a coalition, the head of government would necessarily have to have a left-wing sensibility.