the essential
The week which passed from June 9 to 15 will undoubtedly be one of the most significant in political life in the last 10 years. It could even permanently modify the political landscape drawn by the Fifth Republic.
D-1: Sunday June 9
Gabriel Attal is furious… Sitting opposite the President of the Republic, he struggles to contain himself. Emmanuel Macron has just informed him that article 12 of the Constitution has been activated. The Prime Minister was not associated with the decision, he was not even the first to know about it. He only learned later of the existence of a cell which had been working for weeks on this scenario on behalf of the Élysée… The meeting between the two men went badly. A ministerial advisor tells us of “an agitated President” and a Prime Minister “much more virulent than usual”. The latter wishes to resign. The President dissuades him. But in the photos which will be taken a few hours later by the Élysée photographer, we see Gabriel Attal with his arms crossed and a dark look. While the French are still debating the results of the European elections, the government has just plunged into the unknown, preceding the rest of the country by a few hours. It is precisely 9 p.m. when the President appears on the screens: “In France, representatives of the extreme right reach nearly 40% of the votes cast […]. It’s a situation I can’t deal with. […]. I therefore dissolve the National Assembly”… Like playing Russian roulette, Emmanuel Macron has just changed the course of History.
D1: Monday June 10
The TVs stayed on late. In the wake of the presidential announcement, reactions followed one another for part of the night. Both Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon welcomed the President’s decision. Raphaël Glucksmann and François Ruffin, on the other hand, spoke of a dangerous game, the latter even describing the head of state as a “crazy” and “arsonist”. France wakes up groggy. From dawn, on the radio, reports reporting the words of stunned and angry French people multiplied. At the cafe counters, we blame Emmanuel Macron. The Élysée is starting to worry about the reactions coming from all sides. Journalists are invited by the Castle advisors who want to explain the President’s decision again.
In the party headquarters, meetings began at dawn. On the left as on the right, it is a question of getting into battle order. The LR are questioning their strategy while the RN is attempting a rapprochement with Reconquête. The socialists are wondering if it is still possible to unite with Jean-Luc Mélenchon when a few days earlier one of the executives confided to us: “we never want to align ourselves with his positions”.
The first discussions begin separately but at snack time, LFI joins its partners at the Greens headquarters. The socialists ended up arriving two hours late. The discussions drag on. At 8 p.m., Raphaël Glucksmann invites himself to the France 2 newspaper. He firmly draws several red lines which seem to exclude any alliance with LFI. But two hours later, rue des Petits Hôtels in the 10th arrondissement of Paris suddenly comes alive. Several hundred young activists are demanding a union of the left. Marine Tondelier, the boss of the Greens, comes out to reassure the troops. A deal is close to being finalized. During the night, the left drew a line under its differences behind the back of the boss of Place Publique.
AFP
D2: Tuesday June 11
Political journalists are on edge. A press conference by Emmanuel Macron is planned for the day. But at 10 a.m., when the editorial meetings ended, still no news of the location or time. Time stops for just a few seconds, because very quickly the Figaro site sees the number of its visitors explode. Confidential information reveals that Eric Ciotti is about to announce an agreement with… the RN.
The presidential press conference is immediately postponed until the next day. “It’s a moment of clarification, we have to let the dust settle,” explains an advisor to the President to La Dépêche. On the 1 p.m. news, the LR boss confirms his decision. The Gaullist family stands united against the latter. From Gérard Larcher to Valérie Pécresse via Xavier Bertrand and especially Laurent Wauquiez, the indignation is general. The same evening, Jordan Bardella was invited to the set of 8 p.m. on France 2. He removed all uncertainty: “There will be an agreement between the RN and the Republicans […] with several dozen LR elected officials invested or supported,” he assures.
D3: Wednesday June 12
A few meters from the Olympia, barriers have been erected along rue Cambon. The sniffer dogs and their masters are ready to inspect the bags of journalists invited to the head of state’s press conference. The time and place were finally fixed the evening before. An appointment was made at 9:30 a.m. at Espace Cambon for a speech at 11 a.m., security required. Emmanuel Macron is barely 20 minutes late. From behind his white desk, he begins: “18 days before the first round of the legislative elections, I wanted to speak to you.” For an hour and a half Emmanuel Macron will re-explain the reasons which pushed him to dissolve, the broad outlines of the program he is proposing to the French and above all the strategy for attracting new partners to him in order to expand his majority.
To succeed in his crazy bet, the President must indeed convince the moderate left and right to rally behind him. Elected officials to whom he has been reaching out for three years and who stubbornly refuse it. But Emmanuel Macron hopes that the fear of seeing the RN arrive in Matignon changes the situation, if not with elected officials, at least with voters from these two camps. He therefore insists: between “a Republican right” whose leader “has just made a pact with the extreme right” and “a Republican left which […] has allied itself with the extreme left which has demonstrated anti-Semitism and anti-parliamentarism”, the only alternative would be a central bloc composed of “democratic and republican forces which are serious”.
The President then launches into a Prévert-style list of projects he intends to defend: fight against illegal immigration and house arrest, major debate on secularism, limitation of the use of screens for young people… journalists pick up. Their eyes glued to their phone, they discover that Eric Ciotti has decided to seal off the LR headquarters. He himself is nowhere to be found. In the afternoon, the party’s political bureau meets outside the walls to vote for the exclusion of the President, whose line no one shares. Aurélien Pradié and Annie Genevard, the general secretary, will take possession of the premises at the end of the afternoon. A few meters away, Marion Maréchal has just given her support to RN candidates. The same evening, live from BFM, she was excluded from Reconquête! by Eric Zemmour.
D4: Thursday June 13
The day begins with a tweet: “I’ll be in my office in a few moments.” With these words, Eric Ciotti relaunches the soap opera from the day before. The proof comes a few hours later: the LR boss posts a video showing him returning to his office at LR headquarters to epic music. He assures that the political office having excluded him the day before has no legal value. At midday, he has lunch with Jordan Bardella who guarantees him 70 constituencies. Further north of Paris, rue des Petits Hôtels, the left-wing parties are still in conclave under pressure from the street. In front of the Greens headquarters, activists from a movement fighting anti-Semitism, denouncing the LFI’s ambiguities on Israel, face members of the CGT. But inside, things are moving forward. The news came around 8 p.m.: the party leaders had agreed on a single program and candidates in all constituencies. The details will wait until the next day but this alliance is already supported by… François Hollande. Times are calming down, the French are breathing. A little.
AFP
D5: Friday June 14
In the gardens of the Maison de la Chimie, they take a break in front of the photographers. “It’s a historic moment,” repeats Manuel Bompard. The left-wing parties, after four days and four nights of negotiations, produced a detailed program. October 7 is described as “Hamas terrorist massacres”, a formulation demanded by Raphaël Glucksmann that LFI had until now always refused.
The New Popular Front also promises to “unwaveringly defend the sovereignty and freedom of the Ukrainian people, to “block the prices of basic necessities in food, energy and fuel” and to “cancel the planned increase in the gas price scheduled for July 1st. The minimum wage will increase to 1,600 euros net and personalized housing assistance (APL) will be increased by 10%. The left finally promises to repeal the pension reform. On the right, justice suspended the exclusion of Eric Ciotti.
AFP – PASCAL LACHENAUD
D6: Saturday June 15
In Paris as in Toulouse, from dawn, the merguez sellers heated up the barbecues. Demonstrations against the National Rally are expected to be significant throughout France. However, on this gray Saturday morning, they do not make the headlines. These are the names of three rebels who appear at the top of the political pages. Raquel Garrido, Alexis Corbière and Danielle Simonnet, ex-pillars of LFI, are not reinvested by their party because they have stood up to Jean-Luc Mélenchon in recent months. On the other hand, Adrien Quatennens, convicted of domestic violence, obtains the precious stamp. The New Popular Front has not been in existence for 24 hours before it is already faltering, especially as another explosion is heard near Tulle: François Hollande announces his candidacy there under the Popular Front banner. The PS initially denies it then ends up granting it. Under the Nice sun, Eric Ciotti is in the campaign.
