The leading figures of the right were consulted again by Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, September 3. If Xavier Bertrand is appointed Prime Minister, two parameters will determine their participation in a coalition government, the leader of the Republican Right (ex-Les Républicains) deputies, Laurent Wauquiez, told his troops.
Coalition under conditions. After Bernard Cazeneuve and Thierry Beaudet, the track of the former candidate for the Republican primary, Xavier Bertrand, seems for the moment to be the one that holds the most ground. His political family will not adhere to it unconditionally, BFMTV learned from several LR sources.
This is what emerges from the telephone conversations between Emmanuel Macron and several leading figures of the Republicans that lasted for most of the morning of Tuesday, September 3. And reported by the leader of the Republican Right deputies (ex-Les Républicains), Laurent Wauquiez, to his troops in a group meeting in the aftermath.
Two conditions
Questioned by the head of state, the leader of the Republican Right deputies, but also the president of the LR group in the Senate, Bruno Retailleau, and the head of the Senate, the republican Gérard Larcher, made two demands.
The first: that Emmanuel Macron properly ensures the non-censorability of this nomination. The second: that Xavier Bertrand has the necessary latitude to apply the legislative pact proposed by Laurent Wauquiez this summer.
“Check that this does not send the country into a solution without a future” in the name of “institutional stability” and “have commitments on a work program” to avoid having a “Right-wing Prime Minister” who is pursuing “Left-wing policies”: this is what the leaders of the right have asked of the tenant of the Élysée, Laurent Wauquiez reported to his deputies on the morning of September 3.
Review your positions
If these two conditions are met, the Republican Right parliamentarians could review their positions on participation in the government, he also indicated.
Initially, the group of the former head of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region had in fact ruled out participating in a coalition government.
“We will not participate in any government coalition,” declared Laurent Wauquiez on August 23, after an interview at the Elysée Palace that he himself described as “disappointing.”
Make “a little effort” to “measure up”
Accepting a coalition, “it’s not an easy position because I didn’t expect it,” explained the elected representative of Haute-Loire to his troops during the meeting this Tuesday morning.
If these two conditions are met, “we will not be in a deadlock (…) I have indicated our good will,” he said.
This participation of the Republicans would certainly require “a little effort”, indicated the elected representative of Haute-Loire, but his “duty” was first “to be up to the task”, he further specified in front of the deputies of the Republican Right.
Thomas Soulié and Alexis Cuvillier with Hortense de Montalivet
