The head of the Executive sees his aspiration to gain allies in the National Assembly frustrated in his first meetings with opposition leaders
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is looking for the magic formula to avoid the parliamentary blockade, after his party obtained a relative majority in the legislative elections last Sunday and the extremes entered the new National Assembly with force. Macron’s coalition and his allies won 245 deputies, far from the 289 seats needed to have an absolute majority and be able to govern without depending on the votes of others.
Concerned about the risk of paralysis in the country and that he will not be able to carry out his reforms in this second term, the head of the Executive received this Tuesday at the Elysée Palace, one by one, those responsible for the parliamentary groups of the new Assembly National. The goal is to test the terrain and find out if he can eventually find allies in the Gallic Parliament to help him govern. This Wednesday he will receive the rest of the party leaders.
Macron, re-elected president on April 24, could form a coalition with another formation or preside over a minority Executive and forge alliances, case by case, to pass laws or carry out his reforms. Seen from Spain, such a strategy seems normal, but the problem is that in a system as presidential as that of the Fifth Republic there is no culture of pact. Many French politicians and commentators wonder if, with this configuration of the National Assembly, the country is ungovernable.
THE KEY:
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245
deputies has obtained the Macron coalition, far from the 289 absolute majority. -
Uncertainty.
Added to the risk of paralysis in the country is the Government’s fear of not being able to carry out the reforms
«We open today (this Tuesday) a new chapter. The French have voted and given us a disassembled piece of furniture without giving us instructions. This means negotiating, acting differently, moving forward”, explained Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs, graphically. Former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe considered that “we must listen to what the voters have said” at the polls, both in the presidential and legislative elections. “The President of the Republic has been re-elected and no one can contest his legitimacy,” added the president of the Horizontes party, which is part of the Macronist bloc in the National Assembly. Philippe considers that the solution would go through “a grand coalition”, since “the French want political leaders to work together”.
The formula to get out of this unprecedented situation in French parliamentary life does not seem easy to find. Christian Jacob, leader of the Republicans (moderate right), again gave Macron pumpkins on Tuesday. He rejected that his party, which has 61 seats, ally with the macronistas. The two parties together would have an absolute majority.
“I have told the president again that it is not for us to enter into what could be a betrayal of our voters. We have campaigned in the opposition, we remain in the opposition in a determined and responsible way, ”the head of the Conservatives made clear. Jacob considers that the ball is now in the court of the President of the Republic. “He is the one who has asked for this meeting. It is he who has to put the proposals on the table, ”said the leader of the Republicans.
Case by case
Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party, was in favor of seeing what to do case by case, law by law. “If, for example, Macron is preparing to raise the minimum wage to 1,500 euros, we are available,” Faure said. The socialist leader believes that the president should “choose the path he should take, make proposals and we will see which way the balance tips.”
During her visit to the Elysee Palace, the far-right Marine Le Pen promised the president that Regrouping National, which will have 89 seats in the National Assembly, will be “in opposition and not in systematic obstruction.” But she made it clear to him that they will vote against the pension reform. Unlike Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the leftist union (Nupes), Le Pen does not ask for the head of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne. The far-right leader considers that what must change is Macron’s policy.
The confidence of the French in their head of government has dropped two points this month and stands at 41%, according to an Ifop-Fiducial survey published this Tuesday and carried out just before the second round of the legislative elections.
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