Invited to the “Grand Jury RTL-Le Figaro-Public Sénat-M6”, the former President of the Republic criticized “the radicalism of the left which has shown its limits”.
“If I got involved, it’s because the situation was serious”. Guest of the “Grand Jury RTL-Le Figaro-Public Senate-M6”François Hollande returned to the reasons for his return to the political arena. The former President of the Republic criticized Emmanuel Macron’s choice to appoint Michel Barnier to Matignon, before setting the course to follow so that the left regains power in the next elections.
“The choice of Michel Barnier, not the person, but the political group he represents, is totally contradictory with what the French wanted to express.” This Sunday, François Hollande once again deplored Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to appoint Lucie Castets as Prime Minister, even though “it would probably have been censored,” for the benefit of Michel Barnier. For the socialist, if Michel Barnier was appointed, it is because Emmanuel Macron wants “continue to preside”The Corrèze MP did, however, recognise certain qualities in the new Prime Minister, notably his experience which “may be useful for negotiating with the European Commission” time to reduce public deficits. Finally, François Hollande returned to the attitude of his camp during the weeks of negotiations around Matignon and the report “ambiguity of the left with power”.
The 70-year-old criticised the position imposed on the left by Jean-Luc Mélenchon to apply the programme of the New Popular Front (NFP) to the letter in the event of the appointment of a head of government from its ranks. “We cannot have an all or nothing approach when we are not in the majority”he lamented. If the Barnier government were censored, François Hollande believes “We will have to know whether we will maintain the approach of not starting the program, or whether we will compromise with others to arrive at a government solution.”. To do this, the man who was first secretary of the PS for ten years believes that his party must regain leadership of the left. In the event of a PS Congress, François Hollande has called for “an opening”, “where we take all the families of social democracy to make a large party” car “If there is no big PS, the left cannot come to power”.
Drawing up a roadmap towards 2027, without saying whether he wanted to be a candidate in the next presidential election, the socialist attacked Jean-Luc Mélenchon head-on. “On the left, radicalism has shown its limits, he has been a candidate twice and has not made it to the second round twice.”. For him, only one candidate “socialist or close to the PS” can bring together a majority of French people in the event of an election. While he concedes that the people of the left are in favour of a single candidacy, François Hollande has stated that he has not “never been favorable” to this hypothesis. “The two left-wing presidents were elected with a plurality of candidates”he concluded.
