“A first lap”: the left is ready for a long power struggle with Emmanuel Macron after the appointment of the new Prime Minister

With nearly 150 rallies planned for Saturday, the left hopes to mobilize strongly to denounce the nomination of Michel Barnier, who came from the right, by Emmanuel Macron as Prime Minister.

Two months to the day after the second round of the legislative elections, a day of national mobilization is announced for Saturday, September 7. With a slogan: “Against Emmanuel Macron’s coup.” The call was launched on August 26, when the president officially ruled out Lucie Castets for Matignon, the candidate of the New Popular Front. And since the appointment of Michel Barnier as Prime Minister, the left wants to engage in a long power struggle with Emmanuel Macron.

Nearly 150 marches and rallies will take place Saturday throughout France according to the Student Union, which initiated these demonstrations, with around thirty unions and associations that have also called for demonstrations. Political parties too: Communist, Insoumis and Ecologist. Not the Socialists, but they say they understand and support the demonstrators. Some will be there “in a personal capacity”.

“This is just the first lap”warns a leading communist elected official. It must be said that the social back-to-school period is already busy, with the Union Syndicale Lycéenne threatening to block schools to denounce the “illegitimate” nomination of Michel Barnier, the teachers’ demonstration on Tuesday, September 10, and a day of interprofessional strike action on October 1, the date the budget debates begin.

“These mobilizations will be coupled with our battle in the Assembly”adds a rebellious deputy, with the motion of censure in sight to try to overthrow the government of the new Prime Minister. The four parties of the New Popular Front announce that they will vote for it. But “For censorship to pass, we would have to rally Macronists”notes a pro-NFP socialist who hopes that pressure from the street will help.

Within the left-wing coalition, people believe in it all the more because we have seen that in the presidential camp, the reception reserved for Michel Barnier is more than mixed, even glacial.

The left really wants to set the tone with these demonstrations on Saturday. That’s the whole point, but the bet is risky, warns a socialist, not convinced by the initiative. “If there aren’t many people on the street, it will backfire on us.”she insists. In addition, she is wary of the image that it will send of the left, not a fan of what she calls “LFI’s strategy of chaos”.

A La France Insoumise executive does not share this opinion. By appointing Michel Barnier, Emmanuel Macron “confirms his coup with the support of the extreme right”, she said. There is enough, according to her, to revive anger and give new impetus to this day of demonstrations. The same goes for the communists. A close friend of Fabien Roussel is convinced that “the mobilization will be massive.” For him, the Olympic truce is well and truly over.