“Do not antagonize the LR”, “Translate the republican front in the hemicycle”… What is the executive’s plan to achieve a coalition?

Gabriel Attal and Emmanuel Macron gathered their troops on Monday to refine their strategy and hope to obtain a coalition in the National Assembly.

Eight days after the results of the legislative elections, Gabriel Attal is still Prime Minister but must resign on Tuesday, July 16, while a Council of Ministers is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. The current government team should, however, remain in place for a certain time to manage “current affairs” and ensure the continuity of the State. A resignation finally accepted to allow the ministers who were elected deputies to participate in the election for the presidency of the National Assembly, then in the allocation of key positions at the Palais Bourbon on Friday and Saturday.

Gabriel Attal will be able to devote himself to these negotiations. He was first appointed president of the Renaissance group of the National Assembly, now called “Together for the Republic”. And while the left is bogged down and stubbornly arguing over a name to propose for Matignon, the pressure is increasing very strongly on him to turn to the right.

A first maneuver thus takes place, behind the scenes, to try to have a Republican leader elected to the presidency of the National Assembly. The name of Annie Gennevard, deputy of Doubs, is circulating to become the fourth personage of the State. “It’s not free, if we want a coalition with LR, we have to pay them dearly”a member of parliament who is involved in the operation is convinced. However, he calls for subtlety: “You have to go slowly so as not to put them off, not to give them the impression that their hands are tied…” In his eyes, Thursday, July 18, is about laying the first stone of an agreement. “We never really tried, Gabriel [Attal] is the most talented to succeed”assures an elected official.

On Monday, in a group meeting, the still Prime Minister received a mandate from his troops to begin discussions around a position of principle: to do everything to prevent the National Rally and the New Popular Front from reaching the rostrum. “When Laurent Wauquiez talks about a legislative pact, it’s a giant step”a strategist welcomes. The vote will be by secret ballot in the hemicycle can help and free consciences.

But the executive is not completely closing the door to the left either… with the exception of any agreement with La France Insoumise. For the key positions of vice-presidents, quaestors or committee presidents, Emmanuel Macron’s camp is qualifying its “neither RN nor LFI” strategy. “We must translate the republican front into the hemicycle”explains a small hand, who forgets in passing that certain deputies from the presidential camp were elected with left-wing votes, that certain Macronists withdrew in favor of an insoumis and that these positions in the Assembly are attributed according to the weight of each group, via a points system.

“We must let all the government parties go through with their madness: they cannot govern without talking to others”

An advisor to the executive, who targets the socialists.

to franceinfo

Before appointing a Prime Minister, Emmanuel Macron is counting on these elections to the Assembly to see things more clearly. If the plan does not go as planned, the risk feared by an elected official is that “the Assembly is completely unmanageable” and that the presidential camp also loses all its influence in the Palais Bourbon.

In the head of state’s mind, these elections to the Assembly therefore have the value of a test in view of the coalition he dreams of. The Élysée is convinced that the situation will clear up. It is also a way of “win time”judges a government heavyweight. “Like a child, the president waves”he notes coldly, before slipping in that“we can make lots of deals in the Assembly”, It doesn’t change anything in the political situation. A new meeting took place on Monday at the Elysée to try to move forward on a program and a legislative calendar and to start reaching out.

In reality, for the moment, nothing is official and nothing is “decided”. It is too late to reach a conclusion before the Olympic Games, probably also before the week of August 15. “You have to breathe a little”jokes an advisor who sees negotiations resuming or starting in earnest when the soufflé has died down ten days before the start of the school year. “Why not”, a strategist pretends to wonder: “We risk remaining in resignation for a long time”anticipates another, who is convinced that “The only real deadline is the budget”In other words: see you in the fall.