LIVE – New government: we “were listened to” by François Bayrou, assures Marine Le Pen

François Bayrou began on Monday to consult political forces at the same time as he formed his government, in search of a narrow path which would allow him to pass, without a majority, a budget, after the previous one was frozen by censorship.

The rest after this ad

The rest after this ad

The new Prime Minister receives the parliamentary groups of the National Assembly “in their numerical order of importance” in this chamber. It is up to them to decide the composition of their delegation, with or without party leader.

“We were listened to,” assures Marine Le Pen

The president of the National Rally group of deputies, Marine Le Pen and that of the party Jordan Bardella arrived at 9 a.m. at the Matignon hotel. A meeting during which the former presidential candidate assured “that she had been listened to”, without ensuring that she had been “heard”.

The rest after this ad

The rest after this ad

“We expressed to him that these were the wishes of our voters,” she continues, before concluding that “the method is more positive than what I have seen so far. I now hope that it will be useful.” The frontist leader had castigated on Sunday a “contemptible coalition of opposites” but will not censor “a priori”. The two leaders of the torch party deplored not having been received soon enough by former Prime Minister Michel Barnier.

Marine Le Pen also indicated that she had “expressed to the Prime Minister the reservations” that the RN had “on a certain number of personalities” likely to enter the government. She notably discussed with him the proportional voting method claimed by the RN but also the MoDem, François Bayrou’s party. “I know that the Prime Minister is attached to proportional representation and it seems to me that it is a project” to be implemented “just after the budget,” she argued.

The rest after this ad

The rest after this ad

It is “a priority to allow all French people to be represented” and “perhaps (…) to bring out a majority”, she justified.

No meeting with La France insoumise

François Bayrou, who made a point of personally calling each group leader, also spoke with Gabriel Attal, both the leader of the Macronist deputies Ensemble pour la République (EPR), and president of the Renaissance party, who emerged without a word, his face closed.

The rest after this ad

The socialist group leaders will follow, Boris Vallaud for the Assembly and Patrick Kanner for the Senate, with the First Secretary of the PS Olivier Faure, who do not intend to enter the government but have shown themselves ready to discuss different subjects, such as a “social conference” on pensions or the taxation of high incomes, all proposals supported by MoDem, the party of François Bayrou.

The leader of the Republican Right (DR) deputies Laurent Wauquiez will come alone. His LR party conditions the participation of the right in the government on the “project” that François Bayrou will present to them.

La France insoumise, which has already promised censorship, refused to meet François Bayrou on Monday in this context, out of “fear” according to Jean-Luc Mélenchon “that it would all be a comedy again”.

The future government under construction

At the same time as these consultations, which will continue on Tuesday, François Bayrou is refining his team, which he wants to be tighter and dominated by experienced “personalities”, leaving Mayotte affected by a deadly hurricane in the hands of Emmanuel Macron. François Bayrou, who met Emmanuel Macron again on Sunday evening, defined himself on Sunday as “a Prime Minister of full exercise and complementarity” with the president who had hesitated until the last minute to appoint him.

François Bayrou, however, does not intend to fight over state positions, which fall under the so-called “reserved” domain, according to a government source. The MoDem currently holds the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Jean-Noël Barrot.

It remains to be seen whether Sébastien Lecornu, a supporter of Emmanuel Macron whom the head of state hesitated to appoint to Matignon, wishes to return to his post. François Bayrou received on Friday the outgoing Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau (LR), to whom he left the management of the crisis in Mayotte, affected by a deadly cyclone, as a guarantee of the continuation of his mission in government.

But the maintenance of this divisive minister divides. The socialists first contested his plan for a new immigration law. The President of the Senate Gérard Larcher (LR) pleaded for the reappointment of his party colleague.

Roland Lescure pleads for the appointment of socialist ministers

Former Minister of Industry Roland Lescure, whose name had been circulated for Matignon, pleaded Monday on RTL to “expand” to socialist ministers but the latter threaten to exclude the contenders. “I saw with interest the enormous moves of the Socialist Party and part of the left,” he explained, believing that the promise not to censor if the government does not present 49.3 “cannot work only if they decide to enter the government”.

Insoumise France, which immediately threatens to censor the future government, weighs the union of the left: “anyone who joins this government will put themselves irremediably at a distance from the New Popular Front,” warned its coordinator Manuel Bompard on TF1.

Time is running out for the formation of the government because it will be the one that will carry the new finance bill for 2025, interrupted by censorship, while the deficit is worsening and the rating agencies are frowning. The new Prime Minister received the outgoing Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin on Sunday, before the examination by the deputies on Monday of the draft special law which will allow the continuity of the State, in the absence of a budget adopted on time .

He also met on Saturday with the governor of the Bank of France, François Villeroy de Galhau, and the president of the Court of Auditors Pierre Moscovici. So many possible profiles for Bercy, like that of Roland Lescure.