During her speech to the senators last night, Elisabeth Borne praised the “force of appeasement and balance” of the upper house
“I can’t imagine the Republic without the Senate”said Elisabeth Borne in her general policy statement on Wednesday evening before the upper house, calling for “to be inspired” of “experience” senators and promising to act “in close connection” with local elected officials.
“You are both the relay of the concerns of the French, the voice of local elected officials and territories, the force of balance and appeasement of our institutions”greeted the head of government, who had made another statement a few hours earlier before the Assembly, read simultaneously before the Senate by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire.
The Matignon tenant again defended the need to “building together” compromises, for lack of an absolute majority in the Assembly, while the presidential camp is in the minority in the Senate, dominated by the right. She claimed that, “in certain areas and for certain texts, beyond what the Constitution provides, parliamentary work may[it] start in this hemicycle before extending to the Assembly”.
Mme Borne also promised to act “in close collaboration with local elected officials” to which she gave “homage” in particular for the role they played against the Covid-19, before declining its program in favor of purchasing power, full employment, ecology, equality and sovereignties.
In a more peaceful atmosphere than at the Palais-Bourbon, the presidents of the various groups of senators insisted, in the process, on the need to change their method in the face of “a turning point in [l’]story “as noted by the president of the group of the European Democratic and Social Rally, with a radical majority, Jean-Claude Requier.
First speaker, the president of the group Les Républicains, Bruno Retailleau, deplored a fracturing of the country “which got worse”estimate that “Jupiter turned into Gulliver caught in the threads of his own contradictions”. “If you want to regain the confidence of the French, give up the “at the same time”. Make clear choices »he launched to Elisabeth Borne, also inviting the executive to “respect” the parliament.
The situation, “however worrying it may be, perhaps the ferment of an institutional renewal”estimated, for his part, the leader of the socialist senators, Patrick Kanner, while the president of the CRCE group (for “communist, republican, citizen and ecologist”), with a communist majority, Eliane Assassi, pleaded for “imagine a truly open parliamentary system”. The leader of environmentalists, Guillaume Gontard, invited to take “time to make fewer laws and better laws”.
“Republican majority and opposition are condemned to support each other”judged Claude Malhuret, president of the Independents group, noting that, on entering Matignon, Elisabeth Borne accepted the role of “Chief Minesweeper”. Last speaker, Senator RN Stéphane Ravier denounced in the “context of hypercrisis”a choice of continuity made by the government.
In response to the interventions, Elisabeth Borne felt that, “in the unprecedented situation that [le] country, the Senate will more than ever be a pole of balance and stability.adding that “Wanting to build compromises does not mean agreeing on everything”.