While Michel Barnier made a series of announcements requested by the RN this Thursday, November 28, faced with the threat of censorship, the left denounced an outstretched hand to the far right.
To try to escape censorship that the National Rally threatens to vote with the left, the government announced on Thursday that it would not significantly increase electricity taxes, a major new concession on its budget for 2025. The Prime Minister also said wanting to “significantly” reduce the care covered by State Medical Aid (AME) to which undocumented immigrants are entitled.
Setting herself up as a guarantor of the purchasing power of the French, Marine Le Pen demanded “clear and firm commitments” from the government so that it notably renounces raising taxes on electricity. The leader of the RN deputies won her case: the tax on electricity will not be increased beyond the level which prevailed before the deployment of the price shield against inflation.
Michel Barnier also declared that he would like the care covered by the AME to be “significantly” reduced, and promised to initiate “a reform (of the AME) next year to avoid abuse and misappropriation”. one of the constant demands of the far right and part of the right regarding immigration.
The left criticizes “negotiations” with the RN
The president of the RN, Jordan Bardella, congratulated himself on X on a “victory” on electricity, but added that “red lines remain” for his party. “There are still difficulties. It is Thursday. He has until Monday,” Marine Le Pen also informed Le Monde.
These concessions are, however, seen by the left as an extended hand to the RN. The First Secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, estimated that “the Prime Minister is definitively turning his back on the Republican front” by “turning towards the extreme right” to “avoid censorship”.
If the spokesperson for the socialist deputies, Arthur Delaporte, welcomed Michel Barnier's announcements on electricity, he deplored that the Prime Minister “negotiates with the RN to avoid censorship” and “refuses to negotiate with the left” . He also declared that Michel Barnier's wish to reduce the basket of care covered by the AME is “a gift to the extreme right” and an “unbearable” method.
“As we make our bed, we go to bed. The RN is the crutch of the Barnier government,” also commented the president of the environmental group in the National Assembly, Cyrielle Chatelain.
A “disgrace” for LFI
Reacting to Michel Barnier's announcement on the AME, the national coordinator of La France insoumise, Manuel Bompard, told him: “you want to avoid censorship at the cost of dishonor. You have dishonor and you will have censorship.”
“We can think that he is trying in this way to win the good graces of the National Rally,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon also declared this Thursday.
The leader of the rebellious deputies, Mathilde Panot, also denounced the “crassest racism” to which Michel Barnier “gives in” by restricting state medical aid. “He will get the censure he deserves,” she warned.
Within the macronie, Gérald Darmanin welcomed a “wise decision” and an “outstretched hand to parliamentarians”. The MP and former Budget rapporteur Jean-René Cazeneuve, however, estimated that “we are not negotiating with the National Rally and I hope that is not the Prime Minister's position”.
