POLITICS – Laurent Jacobelli, spokesperson for the National Rally, does not hide his smile on the TF1 set this Thursday, September 5. Seven weeks after the legislative elections, Gabriel Attal still does not have a successor and Emmanuel Macron continues his consultations. Consultations in which Marine Le Pen appears as a weighty interlocutor and her deputies, kingmakers.
How Emmanuel Macron trapped himself with his criterion of “no censorship” of the future Prime Minister
“The President of the Republic wanted to put us on the sidelines, he was wrong and he sees that we are in the middle of the game and that we are the referees. Without us, the laws will not pass, with us the motions of censure will pass”savors the deputy of Moselle. He claims a “central place in the political game”strong in the position of the RN as the largest group in the National Assembly (126, to which are added the 16 Ciottists) and as “France’s leading party”.
During the consultations, two names came up repeatedly: that of LR Xavier Bertrand and that of the former socialist head of government Bernard Cazeneuve. Problem: both were threatened with censure by the National Rally and its ally, in addition to the opposition expressed by the New Popular Front. And without a majority in the chamber, their vote is proving decisive – unless there is an agreement (very unlikely) between all the other groups.
This is evidenced by the case of David Lisnard, whose name circulated on Wednesday… after having been dropped by Sébastien Chenu as a potential compromise accepted by the RN, giving the impression of raising the stakes. The mayor of Cannes finally moderated, declaring to West France that he does not “did not think that this hypothesis would arise”. This Thursday, as the Michel Barnier option began to circulate, RN elected officials immediately castigated it. To the point of having it buried during the day?
Macron “submissive” to Le Pen
After the “ republican front ” of the second round of the legislative elections and the wish expressed by the President of the Republic to find a coalition with the “republican” forces, the irony of the situation does not escape the far-right party. Nor does it escape certain elected officials of the presidential camp, like the Renaissance MP Astrid Panosyan. “Today we are making the RN the chief censor or not of a future Prime Minister. We will have to free ourselves from the censorship of the RN and the LFI to find a common republican, democratic and European path”she laments on X.
The left is also outraged. “That the National Rally should be the arbiter of the inelegances of a President of the Republic who is ready to compromise with it is indeed a problem”denounces the president of the socialist group Boris Vallaud on France 2 this Thursday. Emmanuel Macron “test names that we already know in the end will not be good. We know in the end who decides, her name is Marine Le Pen”, adds the national secretary of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier on franceinfo the same day, explaining this betrayal of the ” republican front ” by the refusal of the head of state to turn to the left.
Marine Le Pen does not loudly claim the title of prime minister maker. Neither does the party’s vice-president Sébastien Chenu. But, he jokes on BFMTV, “Today we are almost being courted and Marine Le Pen is almost becoming Emmanuel Macron’s HR director.”assuring that nothing will happen.
This false modesty does not prevent the Le Pen party from setting its three conditions for not voting for censure: ” That the Prime Minister respects our voters, that the budget is drawn up in consultation with all groups, that we can finally debate proportional representation and that he commits to promoting purchasing power, combating insecurity and reducing immigration,” Marine Le Pen list in The World, implicitly assuming the role of arbitrator. Without giving up on the “freedom to vote and censure” according to the conclusions of the debates on the 2025 budget. A threat that is no longer veiled.
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