France: Macron in total impasse as French Left burns candidates and RN watches slyly

A political class on the verge of a nervous breakdown, a country whose government has been resigning for more than fifty days, in short, “a country at a standstill, which is harmful,” says a member of the outgoing government team, disillusioned and as if at a loss for words, but reported by the LesEchos daily
The French farce continues, and no way out is in sight. The picture that emerges from yesterday’s consultations and political speeches. baleful post-games, attempts to decipher the positions of one party or another.

In a new development, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe made his candidacy for the “next presidential election” official Tuesday night in an interview with Le Point. This is far from a surprise.

On the other hand, the timing and especially the fact that the president of the Horizons party, who has already largely distanced himself from Emmanuel Macron, having previously been a close ally of his, is clearly an indication that Macron is now a politician I decline. Despite the fact that the President of the Republic has repeatedly assured that he is here until 2027 and will act until the end, many are beginning to disbelieve him and see early presidential elections.

Meanwhile, on the part of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Wednesday continued to promote the online petition in support of the call for Emmanuel Macron’s impeachment.

The Rassemblement National, king of politics

Always at the center of the discussions—and hesitations—was the caliber of “non-censorship,” according to someone close to the president of the Republic, the future prime minister, Xavier Bertrand, Bernard Cazeneuve, or another.

This was, in particular, the subject of Emmanuel Macron’s new phone exchanges Tuesday with leaders of the right, the Socialist Party, the ecologists—those of La France insoumise declined—and then Marine Le Pen.

Again on Wednesday. “It’s continuing,” says an Elysée adviser soberly, with Emmanuel Macron looking for the personality that, among the hypotheses he is testing, is least likely to be immediately censured. Advertisement And therein lies the problem.

The Rassemblement National-whose 126 deputies are essential to pass a censure motion-seems to be making everyone dance. Will he censor? Will he not censor? “Whoever the future prime minister is, it’s in the hands of the Rassemblement National,” admits one outgoing minister, ”although I’m not sure it’s in his interest to push the button right away and be held responsible for instability.”

The fact remains that, according to statements from several quarters within the Rassemblement National, the threat of immediate censure against Xavier Bertrand or Bernard Cazeneuve has not been ruled out at all.

Are the conditions set by Marine Le Pen, which she expressed in “Le Parisien”-a prime minister who does not treat the RN “as pestiferous” and who respects its elected representatives, who commits to introducing proportional representation in the legislature, who “does not exacerbate the problem of immigration and insecurity,” and who does not “shave off the working classes and those with modest means in his budget”-sufficient to guarantee immediate noncensorship? Le Pen and Bardella are now playing like cat and mouse, but the mouse has put itself in its own position.

Everyone is afraid to bluff.

On Tuesday, the Socialist Party failed to pass a motion preventing it from proposing censure, i.e., no-confidence, for its candidate Cazeneuve, and this already spies a lot of the madness that French politics is experiencing because of the electoral games wanted by Macron. This has given Xavier Bertrand, the other serious candidate for prime minister, more momentum and, at the very least, shielded from challenges from within his own party.

On Tuesday morning, Gérard Larcher, Laurent Wauquiez and Bruno Retailleau, during their telephone conversation with Emmanuel Macron about the possibility of Xavier Bertrand, wanted the head of state to verify that he would not be quickly censured. But on this crucial issue, it seems easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a candidate to get a 100 percent guarantee.

By now it seems clear that Macron has allowed too much time to pass, allowed cross-vetoes to consolidate, and this is preventing the formation of the new government. He thought the NFP would break, but instead it is his majority that is roiling. Malenchon, who commands the far left, will gain new votes every day for the presidential impeachment.

Macron and his agreement to abstain from voting in the second round with the far-left caused the exact situation. Without this, he would have had a majority, relatively easy politically with Le Pen’s RN. Instead, he preferred to give the majority to the NFP, with whom a moderate government is impossible. He thought he was the smartest guy at the table, but instead he found out that it was the “dinner of morons” and he was one of the protagonists.