The day and the night. As if everything had changed in the space of five years. Ended the triumphant attitude of Emmanuel Macron and his troops, in 2017, after their double victory in the presidential election, then in the legislative elections, when this young president promised to « transformer » the country on a forced march, thanks to its overwhelming absolute majority in the National Assembly. At the time, the opposition was reduced to silence, condemned to watch the elected representatives of the ” new world “ dictate their tempo, their vision and their politics.
Today, the configuration is quite different. “We are facing a very atypical political situation”, acknowledged Emmanuel Macron, Thursday, July 7, during the reception of the deputies of the majority, gathered, for the first time in this new five-year term, at the Elysée. And for good reason: if he managed to get re-elected, the disappointment of his camp in the legislative elections forced him to radically change his tone. No more question of ignoring Parliament. Now that he only has a relative majority, the head of state urges his supporters to show openness towards other groups. “You will have to hear the opposition to work together”, he launched to the nearly two hundred elected representatives of the Renaissance groups (ex-La République en Marche), Horizons and MoDem, which he had in front of him. Before asking them to “building rallying majorities”.
While all the bills were passed with eyes closed during the previous legislature, the government must now find around forty votes to reach an absolute majority, set at 289 seats. Text by text, agreements will have to be found with opposition forces. This requires maneuvering in a subtle way to convince deputies from other groups to vote for the reforms of the executive.
“It’s in our DNA”
In a kind of speech of the method, Mr. Macron explained to his supporters the recipe for “building compromises”. “We must bring the opposition to the spirit of responsibility”he declared in front of the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, and several members of the government. “The important thing is to be on a path that gets your interlocutors out of postures and to be consistent”continued the one who excludes any alliance with the deputies of the National Rally (RN) or La France insoumise (LFI).
Mr. Macron recalled having already been there, when he was Minister of the Economy, during the five-year term of François Hollande. In 2015, he then fought in the National Assembly, in order to have the law bearing his name adopted (which allowed, in particular, the establishment of “Macron cars”), by gathering votes on different benches. A model to follow, according to him, even if this reform had finally been adopted using article 49.3. “If I founded En Marche! and that we are there, it is because I built a project and a law with women and men from right and left. It’s in our DNA.”he said, saying ” expect ” of his troops that they manage to “build this overcoming again”.
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