Having failed to obtain an absolute majority in the National Assembly at the end of the legislative elections, some members of the executive opened the door to a rapprochement with the National Rally to tip the scales… At the same time, others attempted to disambiguate. Without much success. One can indeed speak of ambiguous clarity, and perhaps even of a very clear ambiguity.
Looking back: it all started on the evening of the second round of the legislative elections, when Éric Dupond-Moretti raised the possibility “to move forward”, these are his terms, with the National Rally. His remarks were, it is true, very implicit. But the next day, on the program C Ce Soir, on France 5, the Renaissance deputy (ex-LREM) Céline Calvez left no room for doubt. “As Olivia Grégoire said, when we need a majority and if it’s good for the French, we’ll get those votes.” This declaration has, of course, had a considerable impact: a few weeks after having called to block Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election, here is the majority of Emmanuel Macron who plans to govern with the votes of the National Rally.
Since then, this position has been considerably amended. Céline Calvez herself returned to her remarks, before the Secretary of State Clément Beaune, this Wednesday, on Europe 1, came to remove any ambiguity. “The National Rally, I respect because it is democracy. On the other hand, I say ‘we do not agree’. I do not share their political project.”
I think that with the RN there is not this base of common ideas. We will not seek a political agreement with the RN. There cannot be an alliance, even of circumstance, with the National Rally.
Clément Beaune, Secretary of StateEuropean 1
Here, you hear it: four times, the Secretary of State firmly excludes any alliance with the party of Marine Le Pen. So the question is closed? Well no, not quite.
Because, at the same time, two other members of the government, Olivier Véran and Olivia Grégoire, spoke on BFMTV and franceinfo. They take up the doctrine set out by Clément Beaune. But adding a little extra detail:
Doing the calculation in anticipation that thanks to the RN we would pass a text and that we would not pass without them, it’s no. We won’t do it with LFI either, neither the far left nor the far right. We are in the Republican arc.
Olivier Véran, Minister Delegate in charge of Relations with the French ParliamentBFM TV
“There is not a single second, at a single moment, the idea of going for agreements with the RN”supports Olivia Grégoire. “And with rebellious France?” asks the journalist. “It’s the same thing”decides the government spokesperson.
You have heard it: it is not possible to work with the National Rally, any more than with insubordinate France. The two parties are each thrown out of “the republican arch”. And it is, basically, consistent with the substantive position deployed by the government for weeks. Remember Emmanuel Macron’s sentence before the second round: “Sunday, no voice must be missing from the Republic”, he argued, speaking of the deputies of the presidential bloc. For Emmanuel Macron, the National Rally must be fought, but no more than the other opposition parties. And maybe even: less than the other opposition parties.
In the columns of FigaroÉric Woerth, deputy rallied to Emmanuel Macron, fears that rebellious France could seize the presidency of the Finance Committee: “The Insoumis obviously have in mind to do tax audits. What I did not hear at the RN.” So there would be a real normalization of the National Rally? It seems to me so, and besides, the last stage comes to us perhaps from the President of the Republic himself. Yesterday, in his allowance, he did not have a comment on the fact that 89 RN deputies entered the Assembly.
Instead, he said this. “Because it is my role as guarantor of the institutions, I exchanged yesterday and today with all the political parties that are able to form a group in the National Assembly. All expressed their respect to the institutions and their desire to avoid a blockage of our country’s institutions. I salute this spirit of responsibility and I hope that it will continue over time.” Emmanuel Macron therefore very explicitly and very officially considers the National Rally as a normalized, ordinary party.
So, I make no value judgment: some will rejoice in it, others will deplore it. I would just make two observations. First of all: the big winner of this development is clearly the Rassemblement national. And it’s not me who says it, but Marine Le Pen, who declared in Le Monde, about her meeting with the President of the Republic: “I have been fighting for this for twenty years. I am delighted that justice is finally being done for the movement I chair”.
The second observation: from the moment when a large part of the oppositions are returned indiscriminately outside the Republic, it will become more difficult, henceforth, to appeal to the Republican front. I am curious to see what consequences this will have in the next election.