between Renaissance, MoDem and Horizons, the fight for places drags on

2024-03-09 13:00:06
The president of Horizons, Edouard Philippe, and the president of MoDem, Francois Bayrou, during the Horizons congress, in Paris, March 25, 2023. ALAIN JOCARD / AFP

Put the quilt in the suitcase. This is the challenge for the presidential majority to compose its list for the European elections in June. With polls at half mast, and therefore certainly fewer seats on arrival than in 2019, as well as twenty deputies out of the twenty-three of the Renaissance delegation who wish to be reappointed, there will be no place in eligible position for all candidates. The reasons for tension are already emerging between coalition partners, each refusing to cut corners on their positions.

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Meeting on December 20, 2023 at the MoDem HQ, Stéphane Séjourné, the secretary general of Renaissance, François Bayrou, the president of the MoDem, and Edouard Philippe, the president of Horizons, presented a first draft establishing a pro rata distribution key of their scores in the legislative elections of June 2022. The first thirty places on the list could thus be divided into five tranches of six. With, each time, three places for Renaissance, two for MoDem and one for Horizons.

“But the devil is in the details”, comments outgoing MEP Gilles Boyer, lieutenant of Edouard Philippe, appointed campaign co-director. The method of calculation does not currently allow the parties making up the coalition to be guaranteed that their objectives will be achieved. Horizons, which did not exist in 2019 and has only two MEPs, wants to double its contingent, while the MoDem, with six outgoing members, does not wish to go below.

And this year, we also have to deal with an additional ally, the Union of Democrats and Independents. The centrist microformation must officially register its participation in the coalition during its congress on March 23. His candidate is already known in the person of Valérie Létard, former vice-president of the Senate (2017-2023). A seat is also promised to the former mayor of Nancy and president of the Radical Party, Laurent Hénart, replacing the outgoing MEP Dominique Riquet, who represented the Valois family in 2019. Their place on the list is the subject of all attention, each party fearing that this would be to its detriment.

“Find the right balance”

Outgoing MEP Bernard Guetta adds his two cents. The former journalist, specialist in international issues, has been advocating since July 2023 for support for Ukraine to be at the heart of the Renaissance campaign, which should ensure him a place of choice on the list. But Mr. Guetta makes a point of recalling that he is not a member of any party, to the great exasperation of MoDem and Horizons. The latter believe that its seat must be deducted from the quota allocated to Renaissance. The presidential party refuses to do so and wants candidates from “civil society” to be supported by the entire coalition. The question is all the more tense for the negotiators as two new contenders with a “civil society” profile could be included in the list.

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