Endgame in France and Macron seems closed in the corner

We are at the settling of scores in France. Tones have risen another notch between the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) and Emmanuel Macron. In a letter sent late Monday afternoon, the leftist coalition that brings together La France insoumise (LFI), the Socialist Party (PS), the Ecologists (EELV), and the Communist Party (PCF) accuses the Head of State of “tergiversating” by refusing to appoint its representative, Lucie Castets, to Matignon.

Above all, the NFP lets it know that it will no longer go to the Elysée Palace, as it did last Friday, unless we have to “work out the terms of this cohabitation,” that is, whether Emmanuel Macron will agree to appoint Lucie Castets in place of Gabriel Attal and whether the government will indeed be that of the PNF.

“The only political conclusion”

“For more than a month, we have been waiting for the President of the Republic to act as the guarantor of the institutions, drawing the only political conclusion from a vote he himself decided on: the appointment of Lucie Castets as Prime Minister.” Write the signatories of the letter: Lucie Castets in the lead, Manuel Bompard for LFI, Olivier Faure for the PS, Fabien Roussel for the PCF Marine Tondelier for the Ecologists.

“By choosing to keep a resigning government in office, it makes every day more complex the task of the future government, which will have to correct the situation in which it is leaving the country,” the letter adds, referring to the preparation of the 2025 budget or thestart of the new school year. It is alleged that Emmanuel Macron disregarded the message that the French people sent during this summer’s earlier legislative elections.

Motion for censure

The NFP is not easing the pressure, while at the same time, Emmanuel Macron put the finishing touches on his consultations ahead of the appointment of a new prime minister. On Monday he received representatives of the Rassemblement National (RN)-Jordan Bardella for the party, Marine Le Pen for the parliamentary group, as well as Eric Ciotti, head of a group of 16 deputies allied with the far right.

All three confirmed that they would not vote for confidence in an NFP government. The presence or absence of LFI ministers—Jean-Luc Mélenchon suggested this on Sunday—makes no difference to the RN and its ally Ciotti. “The New Popular Front in its program, in its movements and for the personalities who embody it today, represents a danger to public order, civil peace and obviously to the economic life of the country,” said Jordan Bardella from the Elysee Gardens.

So at least on this point, things were very clear: the RN and allies are not against the LFI but against the whole leftist bloc. This cuts off many possibilities for the Macronians.

LFI’s proposal not to include ministers in its ranks complicates Emmanuel Macron’s task. While this changes nothing for the right wing of his party, the left wing seems to be more constructive. “The President of the Republic should therefore appoint as prime minister a person from his own ranks. The non-participation of the Insoumis in the government unlocks this situation, provided that it is considered that the PNF’s program (designed for an absolute majority that it does not have) cannot be implemented in its entirety,” considered Vienne deputy Sacha Houlié, who left the Macronist group in the National Assembly after his re-election.

A “pretense of openness”

On the other hand, Gabriel Attal, former and outgoing Prime Minister and head of the Macronist party, Ensemble pour la République (EPR, ex-Renaissance), came out of the closet 48 hours after Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s proposal. He denounced a “pretense of openness” and “an attempted coup d’état” by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “What Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants is the pure and simple application of his program, without any opening or compromise. With the addition of a commitment by the other parliamentary groups not to oppose him through a motion of censure,” he wrote in a letter to EPR deputies.

“Although we [and Stéphane Séjourné, Secretary General of Renaissance, ed.] are ready to compromise, we continue to oppose with all our might the unilateral application of the LFI and NFP plan alone.  Because the overwhelming majority of French people reject this plan. Because our country will not recover. Its unilateral application would lead to unprecedented fiscal bludgeoning, widespread impoverishment of the French, the economic collapse of our country, and a dangerous challenge to some of our most fundamental values, first and foremost secularism. What Jean-Luc Mélenchon is proposing is to remove a name from the front of the store but not change anything inside. We cannot accept that,” he adds.

Like the right and the far right, the Macronist deputies will then vote on a motion of no confidence in the NFP and LFI ministers or not. The situation remains deadlocked. Late Monday afternoon, the Elysée Palace remained silent on whether Emmanuel Macron would intervene at the end of the consultations. François Bayrou, President of the Modem, encouraged him to do so while the President of the Republic could reopen a second round of consultations. But this will probably take place without the NFP.

Now there is a motion against the President

In the end, faced with the refusal to accept the NFP government, Melenchon’s leftist party, LFI, lost patience and filed a parliamentary motion to dismiss the president under Article 68 of the French constitution.

This motion will compel all political forces to predicate positions for or against Macron, although the vote will then be secret.
The refusal to form a government with the NFP has now put Macron in a corner, at a particularly delicate moment, given the Durov affaire.