A technical profile, or ultimately rather political? Xavier Bertrand or Bernard Cazeneuve? Fifty days after the resignation of the Attal government, the interminable quest for a new Prime Minister, capable of imposing himself on a fragmented Assembly, was to continue on Wednesday at the Elysée.
Since the beginning of the week, this casting in the form of a puzzle has been full of twists and turns, false leads or new ideas. Each time, President Emmanuel Macron “tests” the names considered with the different political forces, in order to estimate whether a government led by one or another would have a chance of not being immediately censored by the deputies.
After circulating the Thierry Beaudet lead on Monday — a man unknown to the general public, who could have become a “technical” Prime Minister — the Elysée Palace was leaning Tuesday evening “rather” towards “a political solution”, according to a close friend of Mr. Macron. With this in mind, the presidency continued to put forward the names of two experienced personalities, one from the left, the former Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, the other from the right, the President of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand. A kind of finale in short… without excluding the emergence of a third name, according to an advisor to the executive!
According to a close friend of the president, both of them already provide “more stability” than Lucie Castets, the candidate of the New Popular Front, rejected by Emmanuel Macron. “There are reservations towards them, red lines of substance and method, but not necessarily immediate censorship,” the same source suggests.
– Continuity of Macronism –
To be seen. On the left, the Insoumis — who refused to meet with the president again on Tuesday — continue to affirm that they will censure any Prime Minister other than Lucie Castets. If Emmanuel Macron “could appoint himself and cohabit with himself, he would have done so”, mocked the leader of the LFI deputies Mathilde Panot, confirming that her troops were to file a motion on Tuesday with the office of the National Assembly to dismiss the head of state, who “exceeds his powers and plunges the country into a political crisis that he himself created”.
The environmentalists, for their part, deplore, through the voice of Marine Tondelier, that the names presented by the president “embody a form of continuity of Macronism, where the country needs the opposite”.
As for the socialists, they have closed the door on Xavier Bertrand, and are adopting a cautious line towards Bernard Cazeneuve – the party’s national office rejected on Tuesday evening a proposal not to censure a government led by François Hollande’s former Prime Minister.
On the right, after having stuck to their refusal of any participation in a government or coalition, the leaders of the Republicans finally opened the door to the Xavier Bertrand hypothesis… while affirming that it was probably not “viable”.
Because the RN is directly opposed to the boss of Hauts-de-France, whom it considers too hostile to its ideas and its voters, and considers a Cazeneuve government “impossible” because it “would maintain a left-wing policy”.
The only option that would find favor with the party with the flame would ultimately be a “technical government”. “A last resort solution”, Marine Le Pen explained to Le Parisien, setting certain conditions for a team of this type, such as the establishment of proportional representation.
For Marine Tondelier, “the French can no longer stand this institutional soap opera with its twists and turns.” No one dares predict the end of it any more.
Yet Emmanuel Macron is under pressure from the timetable, as a budget must be submitted to Parliament on October 1.
While the political situation is at a standstill, Edouard Philippe has chosen to open a new front on his side by making his candidacy for the 2027 presidential election official on Tuesday evening. A way for the former Prime Minister to step over the current battle, which is decidedly bogged down.
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