His compromise proposal, formulated in this eight-minute televised address from the Elysee Palace which was his first direct reaction since Sunday, was coolly received by the opposition, even if the head of state considered that a government of national union, a hypothesis he had tested with several leaders received on Tuesday and Wednesday, was “not justified to date”.
“No political force can today make the laws alone”, a “new fact”, declared the President of the Republic. Thus, “we must learn to govern and legislate differently”, he added, using the word “compromise” many times.
“I hear and I am determined to take into account the desire for change that the country has clearly requested,” said Emmanuel Macron. “We will have to build compromises, enrichments, amendments, but do so in complete transparency, in the open if I may say so, in a desire for unity and action for the nation”, he detailed.
The president put pressure on the opposition, from the Nupes to the RN via LR, asking them “to say in complete transparency how far they are ready to go”, and this in the short term: “It will be necessary to clarify in the next days the share of responsibility and cooperation that the different formations of the National Assembly are ready to take: enter into a coalition of government and action (or) commit to simply vote certain texts, our budget”.
He gives them 48 hours: “We will start building this method and this new configuration” when he returns from the European summit on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, he said, as he embarks on a diplomatic marathon on Thursday which, beyond this meeting, will also lead him to a NATO summit and a G7 summit.
– “Never lose the coherence of the project” –
Mr. Macron also recalled that the legislative elections had “made the presidential majority the first force”, warning of his determination to “never lose the coherence of the project you chose last April”, upon his re-election.
Emmanuel Macron further confirmed that, “from this summer”, it will be necessary to adopt “a law for purchasing power and for work to pay better, the first decisions to move towards full employment, strong choices on energy and the climate, emergency measures for our health, whether it is our hospital or the epidemic”.
The leader of the United Left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, immediately reacted with skepticism: “It is useless to dissolve the reality of the vote by filling it with considerations and appeals of all kinds”.
The former LFI presidential candidate estimated that now “the executive is weak but the National Assembly is strong with all the legitimacy of its recent election”.
Saying that he did not trust the macronie to respect the texts presented by the opposition, he again called on Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to solicit confidence by a vote of the deputies, and to resign if she does not obtain it.
RN president and Marine Le Pen lieutenant Jordan Bardella observed: “This is the first time that Emmanuel Macron’s arrogance has marked time a little: this change comes from the people, who have made him a minority president” .
He was conciliatory: “Our powerful group in the Assembly will be firm but constructive, with the sole compass of the interest of France and the French”.
“His speech on the method aims to evacuate his responsibility and to change nothing of his project”, rejected the communist Fabien Roussel, while the socialist Olivier Faure tackled: “No, the political formations do not have to answer him until ‘where they’re willing to go and give him a blank cheque.
On the right, the new leader of the LR deputies, Alain Marleix, also rejected a “blank check, moreover on an unclear project”.
He also promised that his group would make proposals on purchasing power next week.
The leader of environmentalists Julien Bayou judged on LCI the speech “fuzzy”. “The president says he wants to act on the climate, we don’t believe him,” he said, adding that Nupes would make proposals on the subject.
As for Elisabeth Borne, she spoke to the deputies of the majority gathered at the Palais Bourbon: “The situation is unprecedented under the Fifth Republic and we must look it in the face”. This situation requires two requirements, according to the Prime Minister: “Go beyond our usual frameworks” and preserve the unity of the macronists.
Emmanuel Macron completed his round of political forces on Wednesday to try to find a way out by receiving the national secretary of EELV Julien Bayou, the deputy LFI Adrien Quatennens and Édouard Philippe, boss of the Horizons party. Tuesday he received Christian Jacob (LR), Olivier Faure (PS), François Bayrou (MoDem) and Marine Le Pen (RN).
For 71% of French people, that the President of the Republic does not have an absolute majority in the Assembly is a good thing for democracy and debate, according to an Elabe poll for BFMTV / L’Express published on Wednesday.
They are 44% to prefer a negotiation according to bills and only 19% to favor a government of national unity. Finally, 17% want a coalition agreement between the majority and one or more opposition camps.
The crisis and doubts do not spare the majority.
François Bayrou suggested that the Prime Minister should be changed, believing that “the times require that the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister be political, that we do not have the feeling that it is the technique that governs the country “.
Elisabeth Borne will receive the presidents of Assembly groups next week, a way for the executive to show that she remains in office for the time being, even if her situation seems precarious.
