They despise each other, sometimes. They don’t understand each other, often. Such has been the tumultuous relationship between the Macronists and the Republicans (LR) since 2017. Two competing camps, due to an obvious ideological proximity. Two families with close electorates, observing each other like prey to be devoured. And yet… The weapons are now put away in the closet.
A coalition government between the central bloc and the right will indeed see the light of day, at the end of the meeting organized on Thursday, September 19, at Matignon by Michel Barnier with the representatives of these political families. Nicolas Sarkozy can smile: his old dream has been fulfilled thanks to the arrival of Michel Barnier at Matignon. Here are the right and the Macronists embarked on an adventure full of uncertainties.
How laborious it was! Each camp staged the defense of its demands to maintain its doctrinal purity. The leader of the Republican Right (DR) deputies Laurent Wauquiez emphatically demanded a right-wing policy, far from the hated “At the same time”. The Macronist deputies, led by their leader Gabriel Attal, demanded a clarification of the political line defended by the new Prime Minister to commit. Michel Barnier reassured his parliamentary base this Thursday by revealing three lines of action: the “daily life of the French”, sovereign issues and control of public finances.
“We have the same voters”
Evil tongues will make fun of these consensual political objects, which are hardly precise. On the surface, everyone is happy with them. Everyone is happy, above all, with the government architecture unveiled by Michel Barnier. Ensemble pour la République should recover seven ministries, when Les Républicains will have three. No hegemonic right, there is something for everyone! Peace is sealed, the adventure can begin.
Could it have been otherwise? Behind the scenes, negotiations and battering rams were always accompanied by a laconic analysis. “We are forced.” Yes, the right and the central bloc had no choice but to agree. Here, there was no pressure from an all-powerful president. Rather, that of the people of the right and the center. “We have the same voters. They would not forgive us for being at the origin of this failure,” confided a Renaissance executive on Wednesday. “No one has a choice, it has to work.” “No one can turn the tables, it would be too costly for everyone,” added a close friend of the head of state.
Therein lies the paradox of the relationship between the right and Macronie. Their political proximity fuels fierce competition. But this convergence has tied their hands, after the appointment of Michel Barnier to Matignon. Everyone can pull on the elastic, but no one can break it. Beware of the person responsible for a coalition failure. “Those who shoot against Barnier are in the lose-lose, notes an LR executive. It’s scorched earth politics.”
“It will be our responsibility to weigh in”
You have to put on a good face. “It’s not easy to work together for people who have fought each other for seven years,” observes the wise Gérard Larcher. Smiles in the family photo. Each camp must tame the other. Grievances are shared. The right felt humiliated by this conquering “new world”, it which thought that the 2017 presidential election was promised to it. Emmanuel Macron has never stopped tearing this rival apart, with individual poaching. The presidential camp, for its part, is raging against this unreliable partner in the Assembly, responsible for triggering Article 49.3 during the 2023 pension reform. And what about these continuous attacks on Macronism, marked by intellectual condescension? “We cannot have a Minister of the Economy who tomorrow criticizes the economic record of the last seven years while asking EPR deputies to raise their hands when necessary,” warns a right-wing deputy.
Life will not be rosy. The competition between these two families will not die out thanks to a coalition of circumstances. Laurent Wauquiez, who will not enter the government, called on Thursday in front of his troops for a “break with the years gone by”. “It will be our responsibility to weigh in”, he specified. The tone is set. “In the Assembly, Wauquiez will be able to embrace the movements of opinion towards Barnier”, already anticipates an LR leader. The Prime Minister should not expect any gifts from the central bloc. Certainly, no one will be foolish enough to censor him. But the head of government is at the mercy of a demobilization of Macronist deputies during strategic votes or tricky amendments. The marriage is about to be celebrated. Some are already thinking about the Silver Wedding, as it could constitute the first stone of a gathering of the right and the center in 2027. Others are already thinking about divorce. For now, it’s time for the honeymoon.
.