If he remains in the background and does not officially comment on the political life of his country, Emmanuel Macron thinks no less. Monday, after making Élisabeth Borne Commander of the Legion of Honor, the French president played the game of predictions in private. According to “Le Parisien”, the head of state bluntly told a group of “faithful, parliamentarians and former ministers” that the days of Prime Minister Michel Barnier were numbered. “The government will fall. She (editor’s note: Marine Le Pen) will censor him at some point and sooner than we think,” the president predicted.
Emmanuel Macron thinks that the president of the deputies of the National Rally (RN) could take action in the coming days, when the National Assembly will vote on the various budgets. In the presidential camp, many are of this opinion. “We are going to be censored. (…) Even we say that the budget is bad. So why wouldn’t Le Pen press the red button?” said a Macronist minister. For its part, the Élysée denies the president’s comments, affirming that he “is not a commentator on current affairs.”
On Wednesday, the RN deputy, Jean-Philippe Tanguy, confirmed that his group could vote on a motion of censure, as early as next week, on the Social Security budget. “I did not understand this as an outstretched hand,” declared the elected official, questioned on RTL about the Prime Minister’s intervention on TF1 Tuesday evening. Tanguy confirmed that his group could vote for a motion of censure from the left in the event of recourse to 49.3 to adopt the Social Security budget.
“It is totally possible that the red lines will be crossed at that moment,” he judged. This use of 49.3 could take place as early as next week in the event of a compromise between the seven deputies and seven senators meeting this Wednesday in a joint committee. The ally of the RN and president of the UDR group (Union of Rights) Eric Ciotti also estimated that “at this stage”, he would also vote for a mention of censorship.
The left and the far right, by bringing down the government, “would take the risk of sending the country into the wall”, judged the government spokesperson on Wednesday. “France is at a crossroads. We have the choice today between raising our heads, accepting a recovery budget (…) or sinking into a deficit which will lead us towards a lasting weakening on the economic, social and diplomatic levels of the country”, declared Maud Bregeon on franceinfo. “The consequence of a political crisis and a probable financial crisis in France will impact our diplomatic weight and our ability to defend our interests,” she warned.
