He may be Saint-Cyrian, Renaud Labaye has nothing against Marshal Foch, trained at Polytechnique. Of the principles of war theorized by the generalissimo in 1918, Mr. Labaye, secretary general of the National Rally (RN) group in the National Assembly, cherishes one: freedom of action. Alongside Marine Le Pen, he defined the strategy of his 89 infantrymen at the Palais-Bourbon – “embody the opposition and prepare for alternation” – and its tactical variation: “With our freedom of action, we make our political adversaries more feverish. We keep this elusive side, maintaining uncertainty about how we are going to behave. It is more complicated to construct a political strategy when you do not know how your opponent will react. »
Where some see a chicken without a head or spine, the RN group again and again pleads the “pragmatism at the service of the French”, but, also, a right to malice. Evidenced by his procrastination on the vote of the motion of censure tabled by the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), which was to be debated Monday, October 24, before his own. Initially, the RN, through the voice of Jean-Philippe Tanguy, affirmed that he would not hesitate to vote for it “if it were not stated in provocative terms”.
Later, Section 49.3 triggered, Mme Le Pen wanted to be clear: out of the question to ally with Nupes in this motion of censure, insofar as the two groups would not censor the government’s budget for the same reasons. Friday, Renaud Labaye as Jean-Philippe Tanguy again maintained the doubt, in view of the moderation of the text deposited by the alliance of the lefts.
“We are not in dogma”
“We like to put the majority in a position of doubt and we want to keep this faculty, rejoices Mr. Labaye. When the Nupes filed a motion of preliminary rejection on the PLFSS [projet de loi de financement de la Sécurité sociale], the majority inquired whether we were going to vote for it. »
These hesitations – or this skilfully maintained vagueness – continue in the discussions on the texts. Sometimes close to the positions of the Nupes, sometimes close to those of the Republicans (LR), the RN speaks the “neither right nor left” fluently, even though most of its deputies assume a right-wing identity. Thomas Ménagé, elected from Loiret, greedily shares a graph showing which group votes in which direction in the Assembly. Only the RN draws a circle shape, showing that it votes 40% like Nupes and 45% like LR and the centrist group Libertés, Indépendants, Overseas and Territories.
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