A thumbs up from Marine Le Pen, and all hopes are allowed. This is the reflection of a minister this Wednesday morning over coffee and croissants. “Politics has taught me to never be definitive,” he slips, still refusing to speak of Michel Barnier in the past tense. A few hours later, a Republican Right (DR) MP tried his luck. He decides to send an SMS to Michel Barnier to urge him to renounce the indexation of retirement pensions, the last red line of the National Rally. Parliamentary stability is at this price. “Will reason prevail over the sense of honor? He asks himself. He must go to the end to ensure the continuity of the State.”
A few hours before the vote on the motion of censure, the corridors were teeming with picrocholine combinations. There are a handful of them who are convinced that Marine Le Pen can change her mind in added time: this would not be her first attempt. Michel Barnier ultimately gave up nothing… And paid the price. 331 deputies decided to adopt the motion of censure tabled by the New Popular Front. The most short-lived Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic (89 days at Matignon) left the Assembly to meager applause, now forced to submit his resignation to the President of the Republic. This result was expected. The day brought its share of surprises.
READ ALSO: Fear, ego or the legal calendar? Marine Le Pen, the reasons for censorship
“It seems that Ciotti does not vote for it”
Any rumor is good to take, this Wednesday morning. The latest, widely relayed in the ranks of the right: Eric Ciotti would hesitate to vote for censure. His former comrades tried to change the mind of Le Pen's now supporter, reminding him of his good years, when he was still a champion of responsibility and a defender of institutions. Was he sensitive to their charm? Text messages with some of his relatives are still circulating before entering the chamber. “It seems that Ciotti does not vote for it.” Since the start of the week, the common base has also believed it can take advantage of the frictions within the New Popular Front. Here are the ministers, morning after morning, calling on socialists – sometimes even ecologists – to show their sense of responsibility. It did not escape anyone's notice, certainly not Matignon, that half a dozen socialists had refused to sign the motion of censure. But beware of intellectual views: only Sophie Pantel, PS deputy for Lozère, is committed not to bring down the government.
The left is at the center of discussions this Wednesday morning. Sacha Houlié speaks with a Liot deputy: “Raphaël Glucksmann must be appointed to Matignon,” he tells him. Crazy laughter from the interlocutor… The left, it must be said, is full of plans on the comet. “Who are you waiting for?” The guard of honor of journalists, gathered at the entrance to the Palais Bourbon, remains silent in the face of the witticism of the ex-Insoumis, Hendrik Davi. Jean-Luc Mélenchon should arrive any minute – it's 1 p.m. – but he's been waiting. “He just wants us to kick our butts, it’s his little victory for the day,” we squeal in the crowd. There he is in the distance, a few seconds later, surrounded by Louis Boyard, Mathilde Panot, and a handful of his most loyal lieutenants. The person concerned remains silent, despite the strained microphones and the questions on the fly. “No, no! He is not authorized to respond,” warned the press relations manager of the LFI group. It's a little after 1 p.m., and the candidate for a possible early presidential election is said to have simply come to “enjoy the moment.” Delighted to be under a swarm of cameras, giving the lie to Michel Barnier who, the day before on France 2 and TF1, assured that he had “the pen” of the text of the NFP motion of censure.
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Is the hemicycle swimming in complete denial, at 2 p.m.? “With Bruno Retailleau, rest assured that we will do everything possible to ensure safety at school,” reassures the Minister of Education Anne Genetet, after a question from a deputy. Ian Boucard, DR parliamentarian, is furious: “We are witnessing unreal QAGs, where deputies from the extreme right and left are demanding solutions from a government that they want to overthrow!”
“In the end it will be between them and us”
The rebellious patriarch took his place in the stands – in the front row – alongside the former deputy of the Left Party, Martine Billard. It is 4 p.m. and, finger on mouth, he looks proudly at Eric Coquerel, chosen to hold the spittoon for the NFP's motion of censure – a lieutenant who mocks the government's “absolute illegitimacy in the face of universal suffrage” and calls to open “the promise of dawn after dusk”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon then stares at Marine Le Pen, the one who, according to her motion of censure speech, targets Emmanuel Macron – “if he decides to stay” – “forced to note that he is the president of a Republic which is no longer quite, through its fault, the Fifth”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon leaves the hemicycle; a few rebellious deputies imitate him while Boris Vallaud takes the podium. “You know, in the end it will be between her and us anyway,” texts someone close to the proponent of an early presidential election. The Insoumis point at the Elysée, the socialists aim at Matignon: what do the “allies” matter, the future on the left is combined differently.
READ ALSO: The next Prime Minister will finally have to show courage, by Pierre Bentata
Michel Barnier finally takes the floor, in a semblance of a farewell speech, to praise his method “which was the subject of an agreement in CMP, the first time in 14 years!”. “It’s already too slow, we have to go to the vote,” mocks rebel Thomas Portes. “I cannot accept the idea that institutional destabilization brings together a majority of deputies,” continues the Prime Minister, criticizing – in a Macronian reflex – the inability of the political class to “overcome the tensions and divisions which have has done so much harm to our country.” He leaves to the applause of the common base. Before he spoke, he received more applause than on the day of his policy statement. This is the exit.
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