The outstretched hand ended in a door slamming. Surprising? After failing this summer to form a coalition with Les Républicains (LR), Emmanuel Macron’s call for a « alliance » with the right-wing party, launched during his interview on France 2, Wednesday, October 26, does not arouse more enthusiasm. Even before this plea, Eric Ciotti, deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes, who covets the presidency of the LR, had swept away the idea put forward three days earlier by ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy. “We are not in bargaining with the government”supported Wednesday Olivier Marleix, leader of the LR group in the Assembly. “The question has been settled. He’s been belly dancing for months and months (…) we are not Macron-compatible”, abounded Thursday, on Public Senate, the senator of the Vendée, Bruno Retailleau, who also seeks the head of the party. An unambiguous refusal.
Despite the right-wing accents adopted by the Head of State, through the values of “the order” a you “deserves” he claims, the representatives of the party founded by Nicolas Sarkozy underline the differences that persist between them and Macronie. At the same time, within the left wing of the government and the majority, this explicit call to get closer to the right is destabilizing. “We will not win the next elections by being an ersatz of modernized LR”sighs a minister, relativizing a simple “tactic” which would aim to “sow havoc at LR”. “An alliance with LR is neither possible nor desirable”decides the deputy Sacha Houlié (Renaissance), president of the law commission.
Within the entourage of the Head of State, we are satisfied despite everything with this outstretched hand as a stage, which can make its way, before a hypothetical dissolution of the National Assembly in the event of a blockage. Pragmatism, we hear in the mysteries of the government, which could finish fracturing Les Républicains while allowing the reforms to pass. The Head of State would also be preparing for the risk that a motion of censure could, sooner or later, pass with LR votes and overthrow the government. “He plants seeds”interprets Barbara Pompili, deputy of the presidential majority and ex-minister for the ecological transition, who imagines that ministerial portfolios could be offered to elected representatives of the right.
“Admission of failure”
Curiously, this openness to LR is based on the party system that Emmanuel Macron aimed to overcome. “Our Republic today finds itself caught in the nets of device games”he wrote in Revolution (XO), in 2016. The head of state combines a Gaullist posture, saying he is ready to use the referendum or article 49.3, and a game of alliances, which he had until then delegated to Elisabeth Borne. “It’s an admission of failure, analyzes Bernard Sananès, president of the Elabe polling institute. The case-by-case coalition strategy does not work, it states that a political agreement is needed to have a stable majority. Macron hopes to force LR by addressing right-wing opinion, which does not like disorder and repeated censure motions. » A bet which, according to the pollster, is unlikely to succeed.
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