Élisabeth Borne, Bruno Le Maire, Clément Beaune, Stéphane Séjourné… For the European elections, the majority is thinking about their head of list

Who will be the best candidate to face Jordan Bardella who is leading the polls? The question agitates the macronie. The boss of Renaissance, Stéphane Séjourné, remains “best placed”, according to an executive, but some are hoping for a better-known name to cross swords with the RN. Hence the pressure, more or less friendly, on Bruno Le Maire. At dinners at Matignon, where the Minister of the Economy is not present, it has almost become a joke: “we must send the Mayor”. The problem is that the Minister of the Economy says “No” in all tones. “He’s not a pawn, he wants to stay at Bercy,” insists a relative. Bruno Le Maire returned the hot potato, Sunday November 12, on France Inter to his colleague Clément Beaune. “It’s fair game,” laughs a close friend of the Minister of Transport, “but the Europeans are not Beaune’s project either.”

The risk of “nationalizing the campaign for or against Emmanuel Macron”

Another name occupies the conversations behind the scenes: Élisabeth Borne. Some say why not her? They assume that his lease in Matignon will end one day. “We need a new lease of life in the government before the campaign,” explains an MP, “49.3 is damaging”. A minister would see the “best outing” for Élisabeth Borne, “a conquering exit”. An executive advisor is already imagining story telling: “It’s a good story about the Prime Minister who leaves to lead the battle against the RN”. But it would be “the assurance of nationalizing the campaign for or against Emmanuel Macron” warns another. Élisabeth Borne would still have to want to do so. According to those around him, “It’s not part of his plans”. She prefers to be involved in the campaign, as majority leader in Matignon, not as a candidate.

>> European elections: Renaissance and the RN dream of eclipsing the other parties

The majority will have to wait before hoping to see things more clearly. The investiture commission will, of course, be set up in mid-December to work on the composition of the list and the distribution, which promises to be tricky, of eligible places between the majority parties. But the investiture commission for number 1 is actually made up of just one person: Emmanuel Macron, who does not seem in a hurry to decide. Not before February, or even March bet a Renaissance setting. An executive advisor puts the importance of the name on the ballot into perspective: “in truth, he said, the candidate is the President.”