Everything seemed tied up. Meeting this Wednesday morning in conference, the presidents of the various political groups of the National Assembly had to agree on the composition of the office of the lower house, according to a point system according to the number of elected officials obtained during the legislative elections. and the position to be filled. On the menu: six vice-presidents, three quaestors (the purse strings of the lower house), and twelve secretaries to be appointed.
“Until 2:29 p.m. and 30-40 seconds”, according to Aurore Bergé, president of the Renaissance group, a draft agreement provided for two vice-presidencies at the RN and a post of quaestor at LR Éric Ciotti.
“Renaissance votes for the RN”
Like a dog in a game of skittles, the environmental group reversed it at the last minute by filing the candidacies for the vice-presidencies of two of their own. Their objective was clear: to block the RN by provoking the vote and to demonstrate that “Renaissance votes for the RN rather than for environmentalists”. “It was unthinkable that we endorse this institutionalization which continues the demonization of the RN”, argues in front of the press the boss of the Greens, Julien Bayou.
This maneuver was decided late in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday by the ecologists, who informed LFI and Nupes of their intentions this Wednesday morning. Before submitting the candidacies of Benjamin Lucas and Sandrine Rousseau in the very last moments of the afternoon. “Otherwise, the presidential coalition, LR and RN could have understood our strategy”, explains an ecologist, acknowledging that his group has “a little forced the hand” of its Nupes allies.
Result, around 5:30 p.m., after two hours of session, Valérie Rabault (PS), Caroline Fiat (LFI), Élodie Jacquier-Laforge (MoDem), Naïma Moutchou (Horizons), Sébastien Chenu (RN) and Hélène Laporte (RN) were elected Vice-Presidents of the National Assembly. The environmental candidates were dismissed, only winning around thirty votes, slightly more than their group.
“It’s bullshit”
“LREM is unveiling itself and taking steps not only from the demonization of the RN, but also from its institutionalization”, declared Julien Bayou after the vote. Response a few minutes later from Aurore Bergé, evacuating the accusations in agreement with LR and the RN: “It is important that all the sensitivities wanted by the French are represented. “The accusations are nonsense,” added a Renaissance parliamentarian.
On the LR side, it was the former vice-president of the Assembly, Annie Genevard, candidate for re-election, who paid the price for her group’s strategy. The LRs favored the candidacy of Éric Ciotti for the post of quaestor. “According to the agreement proposed and validated this morning concerning the vice-presidencies, the presidential majority is alone against the Nupes and the RN. Arithmetic has a good back. The current political issue should have taken precedence. I regret the absence of LR”, she tweeted, annoyed. Éric Ciotti was re-elected to the questure, alongside Marie Guévenoux and Éric Woerth, both supporters of Emmanuel Macron.