2023-08-30 12:00:15
Legitimate skepticism accompanies the summit meeting organized on Wednesday August 30 at the education center of the Legion of Honor in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). In the presence of the Prime Minister and the presidents of the three Assemblies (National Assembly, Senate, Economic, Social and Environmental Council), the Head of State will try to convince the representatives of the eleven parties represented in Parliament that, despite the tensions who reign there, it is possible to find some common ground in the service of the French between now and the end of the five-year term. If this is the case, the proposals that emerge are likely to result in texts, part of which could be submitted to a referendum.
Read also: Meeting of political party leaders with Emmanuel Macron, live: the government will hold a follow-up seminar next Wednesday
This is not the first time that Emmanuel Macron has chased consensus. Having become the president of crises for six years, he has, on numerous occasions, invoked the spirit of the National Council of the Resistance (CNR), which had managed, in 1944, to build beyond the divisions a recovery program whose the country still bears the traces. But, even when circumstances lent themselves to union, as was the case during the pandemic, he did not manage to remove the distrust of his opponents, who criticized him for being too vertical, even “Jupiterian “. Since June 2022, the political climate has further hardened, with the loss of the absolute majority in the National Assembly and the strong opposition aroused by the pension reform.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Emmanuel Macron surveys political parties to relaunch his five-year term
The announcement by the left that it would attend the meeting but would boycott the dinner sums up the suspicious climate of these meetings in Saint-Denis, which are unlikely to resemble “Major Political Initiative” dreamed of by Emmanuel Macron. Reduced to fairer proportions, the meeting nevertheless has an undeniable utility. Firstly because the world is in complete upheaval, notably due to an intensifying climate crisis, and the country cannot afford the luxury of being in slow motion for four years. Then, because public action has been struggling for years, whatever the political color of those in power, with structural problems which fuel the democratic crisis and the rise of lepenism: the loss of effectiveness of public action, the complexity territorial organization, in particular. Finally, because the urban riots at the beginning of the summer highlighted the extent of the national rupture without a single party having seen fit, to date, to publicly learn the lessons of this trauma.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers The right and the far right invite immigration to Emmanuel Macron’s table
In this context, none of those who oppose Emmanuel Macron have taken the risk of practicing the empty chair policy, and that is fortunate: devoting an afternoon and an evening to debating subjects behind closed doors. as heavy as integration, education, authority, citizenship and institutions even appears short, considering the issues at stake. Still, the fear of finding oneself trapped by a presidential maneuver is strong. It pushes each camp to come loaded with demands: the left wants a referendum to abolish the pension reform, the right a popular consultation to restrict immigration, which it blames for the summer violence.
If Emmanuel Macron does not manage to find the right words to calm things down, if he does not adopt a real listening posture to spark debate and bring out more unifying proposals, the meeting will be missed. It will only look like a chase behind the right, whose votes he is seeking in Parliament.
#Emmanuel #Macron #quest #consensus