Free rein or nothing? Promised to Matignon in the event of his camp’s victory in the legislative elections, Jordan Bardella has now made it known that he will “need an absolute majority” to implement his program. “I want to be in a position to act,” said Tuesday June 18 on CNews/Europe 1 the president of the RN, credited with 33% in the latest Ifop poll on Monday. He indicated that he “does not plan to be a collaborator of President” Emmanuel Macron, but that on the contrary he demands “the power to change policy in our country”.
However, “if there is a relative majority, the Prime Minister cannot act”, added the far-right leader, who precisely “reached out to Eric Ciotti’s Republicans” to “create the conditions for this majority” that he calls for. If he obtains it, his “first measure” will be to pass an amending budget including a reduction in VAT on energy and fuels.
Calendar. On the other hand, the abolition of VAT on “essential products” will wait until the next budget, “at the start of the school year”. On Monday, Mr. Bardella also said that he would repeal the pension reform “from the fall”, removing some vagueness on this subject. “There are emergencies and reforms,” pleaded Tuesday the one who is preparing to “inherit a country in a situation of near bankruptcy” and first wishes to carry out “upon (his) arrival” an “audit of the state accounts”, expecting to “find a lot of corpses in the closet”.
Way to prepare minds for possible renunciations? “The reality is that at the National Rally, everything is approximations or denials,” denounced Gabriel Attal on franceinfo. Directly targeting his rival, the Prime Minister estimated that “when it comes to Jordan Bardella, there is less and less program and more and more conditions, it is starting to look like a refusal of obstacles”.
“Third way “. Himself at the head of a relative majority until the dissolution of the National Assembly last week, Mr. Attal defended the “credible” proposals of the “third way” that he wishes to embody, between the ” extremes” of the RN on the right and the New Popular Front on the left who “promise, in their programs, a tax draconian at all levels to finance their budgetary follies”. Message relayed by his ally François Bayrou, who estimated on Sud Radio that “these two blocs threaten us”, assuring that he “will fight the plague and cholera with all (his) strength”.
To thwart the forecasts which grant less than 20% of voting intentions to the Macronists, the outgoing president of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet praised on RFI the “grand alliance of Republicans” and praised the “LR executives who took their responsibilities” by disavowing Mr. Ciotti after his pact with the RN. But the banished leader has not severed ties. “My hand is still outstretched for the second round,” he declared on RTL, assuring that in the event of Mr. Bardella’s victory, “there will be Republican ministers.”
The president of the Republicans (LR) Eric Ciotti, surrounded by the press, leaves the party headquarters, June 13, 2024 in Paris – Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT – Paris (AFP)
Divisions. Meanwhile, the united left is still looking for a headliner to increase its 28% in the polls. And even how you choose it is divisive. The rebellious Mathilde Panot thus affirmed on France 2 that it would be up to the party with the “largest group in the National Assembly” to “propose the name of a Prime Minister to the other forces”. This a priori favors the party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, which has nominated 229 candidates, compared to 175 for the socialists, 92 for the ecologists and 50 for the communists.
Except that the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, is now asking for “a vote” from the future deputies of the New Popular Front to choose a Prime Minister if the left is in the majority on the evening of July 7. “I cannot impose a socialist Prime Minister. No one can impose a rebellious Prime Minister. The only way to get there is to vote,” he declared on BFMTV and RMC. Which immediately triggered the ire of his rebellious allies, like the outgoing deputy Paul Vannier accusing him of “inventing a new primary and denying (his) own word”, or his colleague Eric Coquerel asserting on LCI that “the vote will be the universal suffrage of the French”.
Gabriel BOUROVITCH
© Agence France-Presse
