Jean-Luc Mélenchon announced that LFI had not given any mandate to the boss of the PS “to negotiate an agreement”. Bruno Retailleau explains that his political family “will not be able to make any compromise with the left.
The lines are moving the day after the resignation of Michel Barnier. Particularly on the left, where the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, said he was ready to discuss the “government of general interest” desired by the head of state, but on the basis of “reciprocal concessions”.
An opening before a summit meeting at the presidential palace, where Emmanuel Macron first met at the start of the day the leaders of his own camp (Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons, Radicaux, UDI), before welcoming Olivier at midday Faure and the leaders of the socialist groups in the Assembly and the Senate, Boris Vallaud and Patrick Kanner. “The president has not set any prerequisites on any subject,” said the number one of the PS, who informed him that his troops would “under no circumstances participate in a government led by a right-wing Prime Minister.”
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The socialists even obtained an opening gesture from Emmanuel Macron who, according to Olivier Faure, “committed to calling today” their environmentalist, communist and rebel allies “to suggest that they enter into discussion”, then that these training groups have not been invited until now.
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Way to put an end to accusations of treason? By saying he was ready for “compromises on all subjects”, including pension reform, Faure has in fact triggered the ire of the partners of the New Popular Front. Starting with the Insoumis patriarch, Jean-Luc-Mélenchon, who stressed that “LFI did not give any mandate” to the boss of the PS “to negotiate an agreement”. The head of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, also jumped, calling on the PS not to “fall into this trap”.
Tension on the right
The idea of a grand coalition also angers some on the right. Like the resigning Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, for whom his political family “will not be able to make any compromise with the left […] who voted for an irresponsible motion of censure.” It remains to be seen whether the leaders of the Republicans will give the same speech to Emmanuel Macron, who is due to receive them in the evening.
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In search of an “arc of government”, the head of state tried Thursday evening to regain control during a televised address, promising the appointment of a new Prime Minister “in the coming days”. However, this announcement should not come before Monday, according to several participants in the morning meeting with the central bloc.
In the meantime, Emmanuel Macron must take a break with the grand reopening of Notre-Dame on Saturday, where several dozen heads of state or government, including the American president-elect Donald Trump, are announced.
Return of the budget
Whoever it is, the new Prime Minister will have as a priority the budget, discussions of which in Parliament were interrupted by the motion of censure. While waiting to resume debates on this budget next year, a special law will be tabled “before mid-December in Parliament”, affirmed the president, describing a “temporary law” which “will allow the continuity of public services and of the life of the country” by applying “for 2025 the choices of 2024”.
Who will carry out this project? François Bayrou had lunch with the president on Thursday and also spoke with another contender, former socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. The names of the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, Xavier Bertrand, or the mayor of Troyes, François Baroin, are also circulating.
The winner will not only have to put together a team that Macron wants to be “tightened”, but also deal with a National Rally which has just brought down Michel Barnier. The president of the far-right party, Jordan Bardella, has already asked to be received “very quickly” by the future Prime Minister, so “that each political force represented in Parliament can make their red lines known”.
