The day after his camp’s failure in the first round of the legislative elections, Emmanuel Macron invited Gabriel Attal’s government to the Elysée Palace on Monday 1is July, at midday. In the Murat lounge, the President of the Republic “does not appear to be affected”according to a participant, while the National Rally (RN) is on the verge of power. Among some candidate ministers, however, particularly those who had to withdraw on the evening of the first round to block the RN, the emotion is palpable and the sobs stifled. “We have had happier meetings”sighs a minister.
The Head of State’s lapidary statement on Sunday evening, in which he called for “a large gathering clearly democratic and republican for the second round” facing the Le Pen party, did not prevent dissonance within the presidential coalition on the course of action to take between now and July 7.
Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, president of the Horizons party, has requested that“no voice” it is “relates to the candidates of the National Rally, nor to those” of La France insoumise (LFI). François Bayrou, head of the MoDem, and Yaël Braun-Pivet, outgoing president (Renaissance) of the National Assembly, have called for a case-by-case examination. While the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, has announced “the withdrawal” for the benefit of a candidate “who defends the values of the Republic like us” when maintaining it would risk electing an RN MP.
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Around the table, this Monday, the members of the government Bruno Le Maire (economy), Christophe Béchu (ecological transition), Catherine Vautrin (work and health) or Olivia Grégoire (businesses and tourism), coming from the right, defend before Emmanuel Macron the « you RN, you LFI » advocated by Edouard Philippe. “The RN is a danger for the Republic, LFI is a danger for the nation”denounces the first. While his colleague of the ecological transition invites the presidential camp to be “very clear with regard to LFI”, “which appears to the French to be more dangerous for France than the RN.” Ambivalence, in such circumstances, “can come back to haunt us”warns the man who is also secretary general of Horizons.
Other ministers, Hervé Berville (sea), Patrice Vergriete (transport) or Fadila Khattabi (disabled people), coming from the left, plead on the contrary for a “unconditional waiver” in the second round in the event of an RN danger. There are several sensitivities among the “insoumis”, they emphasize, inviting us to distinguish, among the LFI candidates in the running, the wheat from the chaff. “We are not a marshalling yard”Olivia Grégoire retorts.
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