despite the tensions, the entire majority united behind François Bayrou

The presidential majority is marching in Blois this weekend for the MoDem congress, despite sometimes tumultuous relations between François Bayrou and his allies.

They will all be there, Saturday March 23 and Sunday March 24, at the MoDem congress in Blois, for the re-election of François Bayrou – the only candidate – at the head of the centrist party. Gabriel Attal is due to give a speech on Saturday at 6 p.m. and will even stay for the aperitif. Élisabeth Borne comes for a round table on ecology. European candidate Valérie Hayer speaks on Sunday, despite a hiccup in the organization of the campaign which angered François Bayrou. A meeting of the majority is organized Friday evening in Bayonne, a little behind his back, while the Pyrénées-Atlantiques is his zone. “Renaissance has messed up, the whole MoDem is in Blois!” plague a loved one, “but we’re turning the page”, assures another. The boss of Renaissance, Stéphane Séjourné, is also expected in Loir et Cher, unless his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs pushes him to go to Egypt to prepare a ceasefire resolution in Gaza. Édouard Philippe is in New Caledonia, but he will send a video for the special life of the majority round table entitled “Exchange and bring together”.

This large gathering of the majority behind François Bayrou comes a few weeks after the complicated sequence of the reshuffle. The head of MoDem announced that he would not join the government “lack of deep agreement on the policy to follow”. The episode was very badly experienced by the Macronists, to the point that a minister described it as a “strange man, with the behavior of a little politician”. Even at MoDem things were tense.

The advantages of “strategic ambiguity”

In retrospect, a deputy finds the sequence “paid”. “We have four magnificent ministries thanks to that!”, she slips. Agriculture, Europe, childhood and digital. A MoDem minister sees another advantage: François Bayrou has made “strategic ambiguity” and showed that he could “unpack at any time”. For this minister, the congress is therefore “the time to restore our war goals”. I promise it will be “in a constructive atmosphere”, according to lieutenants of François Bayrou, and while praising the joint record for seven years.

Some want to talk “tax justice”. At MoDem, we are not against increasing taxes on the richest, “because you have to find money somewhere”. Others suggest returning to the charge on the election of deputies by proportional or “bank of democracy”which would help all parties to obtain loans… Promises made to François Bayrou seven years ago, and forgotten along the way by Emmanuel Macron.