The First Secretary of the PS insists this Saturday on his “deep divergence” with Jean-Luc Mélenchon but sets his conditions not to censor the Bayrou government. With a first requirement: no immigration law.
Still no call from François Bayrou. Olivier Faure, open to an agreement had still not been contacted on Saturday evening by the new Prime Minister, who has been consulting since the day before to form his future government. Without delay, the leader of the Socialist Party chose to speak in the press to make his demands. “Non-censorship is not a given. It is up to François Bayrou to give us reasons not to censor him. The first is to respond to the French, and therefore to reopen the debate on the priority projects of the NFP, on pensions, purchasing power, local and national public services, ecological transition, democracy.declared Olivier Faure. And to warn that “any form of betrayal of the Republican Front by taking up all or part of the far-right program will be punished.”
With a first red line: the abandonment of the immigration law announced by Michel Barnier for 2025. “To find yourself discussing a new immigration law which Bruno Retailleau said should cover all the subjects which have been censored by the Constitutional Council, is obviously putting yourself in the shoes of the far right. In such a case, we will censor the government. underlines the socialist leader. According to him, Bruno Retailleau should not remain Minister of the Interior.
François Bayrou seems convinced of the opposite: the Minister of the Interior is the first personality he received, on Friday evening. And Bruno Retailleau asked him, as a condition for remaining in office, to continue his roadmap on immigration. The retention of the LR strongman in Beauvau will be decisive in obtaining the support of his party. If he wants the support of both the PS and LR and to avoid censorship, François Bayrou will therefore have the first task of reconciling these irreconcilable positions,
Possible concessions on pension reform
Another sticking point is pension reform, on which the PS leader nevertheless says he is ready to make some concessions. “I want to put an end to the increase in the legal age to 64. But I am obviously not indifferent to the question of deficits. Operationally, I therefore want the immediate suspension of this reform and at the same time, the establishment of a financing conference with the social partners, to decide on alternative recipes. Ultimately we will repeal the pension reform.”
Olivier Faure once again insists that by not choosing a left-wing Prime Minister, Emmanuel Macron is manifesting a “democratic contempt” and that by doing “the choice of continuity by appointing the one who has accompanied him with the most consistency since 2017, the same causes often producing the same effects, he takes the risk of installing chronic instability at the head of the State.”. In other words, that François Bayrou will end up censored. “I am therefore waiting to know if there is an interlocutor in front of me or if there is none. If there is an interlocutor, I am ready to seize the opportunity for a constructive dialogue, but if there is not, we will draw the consequences.” A distrust shared by environmentalists : Marine Tondelier assured on Saturday that she did not want to censor “a priori” the Bayrou government but she also sets her conditions. And also judges that Bruno Retailleau poses a problem.
The environmentalists do not wish to “censor a priori” François Bayrou, but are already starting “to have preconceptions of censorship”, threatens this Saturday on France Inter the national secretary of the Ecologists.
As for the Insoumis, who immediately announced the filing of a motion of censure, Olivier Faure recognizes “a deep strategic divergence” and accuses his NFP partners of only targeting the Elysée for Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “The rebels suggest the dismissal of the head of state. They are now looking for an institutional blockage to lead the head of state to his own resignation and allow a fourth candidacy for Jean-Luc Mélenchon for the presidential election. It's not our choice. We consider that we must, at a very complicated moment for the country, ensure stability.”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon's Elysian ambition is not for him “not consistent with the political project of the Popular Front”. The fate of the NFP seems sealed.
