The appointment of Michel Barnier to Matignon on September 5th is the result of a long period of hesitation on the part of Emmanuel Macron, during which the President of the Republic tested, under the gaze of the French people, different hypotheses, from the right, the left or civil society, to reject them one by one. A behind-the-scenes account of a strange game of three-card shell.
The National Rally, kingmaker
Having gone on holiday, resigned to donning the role of opponent that she knows only too well, Marine Le Pen found herself, upon her premature return at the end of August, at the centre of the game.
“We understood from then on that the New Popular Front [NFP] spoke of automatic censorship if the prime minister was not [sa candidate] Lucie Castets and that the Elysée has set the rule of no censorship, traces Renaud Labaye, the secretary general of the National Rally (RN) group in the National Assembly. Arithmetically, it is we who become decision-makers. And as we become so, Marine gives her criteria when leaving the Elysée.” In front of Emmanuel Macron, the duo formed by Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen, on August 26, rejects in advance a government from the NFP and demands a prime minister “respectful of RN voters”.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Michel Barnier’s first steps in groping with the extreme right
Add to your selections
The leader of the far-right party has not digested the organization of the “republican front” at the beginning of July, which deprived her of a few dozen seats at the end of the second round of the legislative elections. The sidelining of the RN in the office of the National Assembly has made her even less conciliatory. “They wanted to marginalize us? We won’t give them any gifts”rejoices those around her. The sequence of events will demonstrate this: Marine Le Pen will lower or raise her thumb as the profiles considered by the Elysée are listed.
The Thierry Beaudet hypothesis, a flirtation with civil society
After two “rounds” of consultations with the country’s political forces, Emmanuel Macron is at an impasse at the end of August. He believes he has demonstrated that a government led by Lucie Castets, the NFP candidate, would be immediately censored. But the two government formations, the Socialist Party (PS) and Les Républicains (LR), refuse to participate in a coalition with the presidential camp.
He is therefore considering a solution “non-political”. Former CFDT leader Laurent Berger, asked on August 27 for Matignon, dismissed the head of state. Emmanuel Macron then called Thierry Beaudet, two days later. The president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council initially thought he was being consulted by the head of state in the same way as the other presidents of the Assembly. “Ultimately, perhaps the right solution is to have someone from civil society, Emmanuel Macron tells him from Belgrade. Why not a personality like you? The former head of Mutualité Française, who is classified as left-wing, initially rejected the idea. “I would like to continue the discussion”insists the head of state, who invites him to the Elysée the following afternoon, on his return from Serbia.
You have 76.38% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
