It’s crazy how the dissolution really clarified everything! This second five-year term is definitely unlike any other. The Attal government has already fallen, the European elections have barely ended when the president decides to call legislative elections. With the result that we know… And some sixty days later, here is Michel Barnier in Matignon. For how long?
Proportionality or how to save time
Politics is also an art of saving time. Michel Barnier knows to what extent proportional representation is anything but obvious, particularly within the central bloc. “On this subject, elected officials from the Republican right can go so far as to vote for censure,” warns a friend of the Prime Minister. Hence the idea of a slow schedule. We will have already gained a year when we continue to talk about it. Parallel to the subject of the accumulation of mandates.
Bardella and the “teenagers”
One thing at a time! We waited for his book for months, we have to leave a little more suspense. Jordan Bardella has been promising the arrival of a new chief of staff in his ranks for weeks. For now, the role is still occupied by François Paradol, elected RN in the Île-de-France region, a long-time friend of the MEP, not fond of flashes and cameras. At the party, we paint the portrait of a more caped figure, adjusted to the new costume that the 29-year-old politician has cut for himself. Because the entourage of the president of the RN is subject to ridicule. “Her team is very teenage,” jokes someone close to Marine Le Pen. “Bardella is missing people who have a personal aura, a more prestigious career, which would also compensate for some shortcomings.”
Macron worries Barnier
Michel Barnier does not miss an opportunity to publicly display his respect for the President of the Republic, whose record he sometimes praises, particularly in terms of economic attractiveness. But there is one point that worries the head of government, who was alerted upon his arrival in Matignon by a letter from the governor of the Bank of France. He confided it to those close to him: he sometimes wonders if Emmanuel Macron is as aware as he is of the seriousness of the country’s financial situation… And it’s still annoying…
The (very) discreet apologies of Lucie Castets to the Insoumis
Between the Insoumis and Lucie Castets, love is no longer… The Insoumis put strong pressure on Castets so that she commits to sitting in the LFI group in the event that she is elected during the partial legislative election in Isère (Editor’s note: she has since thrown in the towel). Castets refused again and again, and they then made him understand that they would not hesitate to send a candidate of their own. A bluff? A few hours before she threw in the towel, the same rebels also reminded Castets that they would only support her if she sat in the group. Once the pressure was reported in the columns of several newspapers, including L’Express, the rebels cried out for fake news, to the point that Lucie Castets ended up… backpedaling. In a message sent to the leaders of the NFP – Manuel Bompard (LFI), Marine Tondelier (EELV) and Olivier Faure – she said she was sorry to read this, apologizing in the process. A discreet denial. L’Express maintains its information.
At LFI, the PS congress excites (and worries)
Who will come out on top at the socialist congress, scheduled for early 2025? While the internal battle was launched by François Hollande – “We need a new figure for the PS”, he declared – Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s lieutenants are watching the affair very closely. If they often have harsh words against the pink house, it must not be too weak so as not to complicate the affairs of their leader for the presidential election of 2027. And they fear for the future of Olivier Faure, the current first secretary and apostle, among the socialists, of the rally with the Insoumis and the ecologists. “I think he is going to lose the congress… Our conversations with those close to him do not reassure us,” admits a rebellious elected official, who admits to thinking about “making cards” (translation: sending activists to join the party and thus vote in congress) to come to Faure’s aid. And the same Insoumis was alarmed by a strange compliment: “Hollande is the best, he is too strong… If he comes back, he will have them all.”
Common base: what if this calmed down?
Michel Barnier does not have an easy life at Matignon. His fragile coalition is pulling itself in the legs and the Prime Minister must endure friendly pressure from group presidents Laurent Wauquiez and Gabriel Attal. A member of the government senses that the tension will drop, pragmatism requires. “All this will settle down. There is no intermediate position in this matter. History will remember those who supported or not.” A minister agrees: “We are expected to make this work.”
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