Emmanuel Macron He also did not appoint a Prime Minister this Wednesday, a day when the hypothetical favorites multiplied in a dance of rumors and leaks due to the lack of news from the Elysée. The French president will not make an announcement this Wednesday, according to sources from the Elysée, who closed a frenetic day of speculation with names and discussions on his possibilities of being entrusted with the task of forming a government.
To the already known hypothetical candidates – the former socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve and the conservative Xavier BertrandPresident of the Hauts-de-France region – two other potential candidates were added this Wednesday. They are the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard (president of the Association of Mayors of France), and the former minister and former European Commissioner Michel Barnierboth conservatives.
For its part, the hypothesis considered on Monday Thierry BeaudetPresident of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, at the head of a technical executive, already seems excluded. Macron spoke Tuesday evening with the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who made it clear that her party rejects both Bertrand and Cazeneuve. The latter also has the rejection of the left bloc, since even if the coalition of the New Popular Front (NFP) should be his natural support, Cazeneuve abandoned the Socialist Party because of his pacts with the more radical group La Francia Insumisa (LFI).
Next Friday will mark two weeks since Macron began consultations with parliamentary groups and the main political parties, a dialogue of which the only thing that has been clearly established so far is that the president refuses to name. Lucie Castetsthe candidate proposed by the PFN. And on Saturday, it will be two months since the second round of early legislative elections that Macron called against the advice of the majority of the political class.
The Prime Minister’s Government Gabriel Attal He completed 51 days in office this Wednesday, the second longest period of the Fifth Republic established by Charles de Gaulle in 1958. Two obstacles: stability and the Macronist legacy But despite the days that pass, Macron’s consultations, which have already ended since Tuesday. by telephone and not by meetings at the Elysée, they are not managing to resolve two essential problems.
The first is to overcome Unprecedented fragmentation in the National Assemblywhich means that the threats of a cross-no-confidence motion that the parliamentary groups have already announced against potential prime ministers are turning his nomination into a flash in the pan. No bloc (ultra-right, Macronism and left) has a majority or is close to obtaining one, but these cross-threats make an agreement between them impossible for the moment. Only a pact between Macronists and conservatives seems likely, which would be insufficient to control the National Assembly.
It must be taken into account that the government must hold for at least ten months, since the French Constitution prohibits the repetition of legislative elections in less than a year. The second major obstacle is that Macron seeks to ensure that the new executive will not squander his legacy by reversing some of the main policies he has implemented since coming to power in 2017, in particular last year’s controversial pension reform and more favorable taxation for workers, capital and companies. These last two points are anathema to the left bloc, which has promised to repeal the pension reform and wants to raise taxes on the richest and big companies to finance its social program.
“What we want is the repeal of the pension reform“, insisted this Wednesday the secretary general of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, in statements to BFM. “Our objective is to ensure that there is no left-wing Prime Minister, no left-wing policy,” declared the leader of the conservatives in the Senate, Bruno Retailleau, one of the men who is talking the most these days with the president.
