(Paris) The standoff intensified further on Monday in France between the different components of the New Popular Front (NFP), the left-wing coalition that came out on top in the early legislative elections, which are trying to overcome their differences and agree on a candidate for the post of prime minister.
Socialists, communists and environmentalists announced on Monday evening that they were proposing to their NFP ally, the party La France Insoumise (LFI, radical left), a personality “from civil society”.
The name of Laurence Tubiana, a driving force behind the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, was put forward, concordant sources told AFP.
But this academic is already criticized by LFI, which accuses her of being close to the camp of centrist President Emmanuel Macron.
This movement led by the ex-socialist Jean-Luc Mélenchon had in any case excluded the idea of a personality from civil society, considering that it did not include sufficient guarantees for “the implementation of the NFP program.”
After eight days of negotiations, the discussions therefore seem to have reached a standstill, while the rejection this weekend by the PS of the candidacy of the president of the regional council of La Réunion, Huguette Bello, close to LFI, has reignited the powder keg in the fragile alliance, undermined by internal quarrels.
The strongest tensions are between La France Insoumise and the Socialist Party, the two main groups of the NFP competing for leadership on the left in the new Parliament.
“Is the Socialist Party playing for time to let the New Popular Front break up and abandon the programme?” LFI asked in a press release, with the movement’s coordinator Manuel Bompard criticising the PS’s “systematic opposition”.
“Nothing has been blocked,” retorted the first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure.
The early legislative elections did not produce an absolute majority for the main camps and the Assembly is now divided into three blocs: the NFP (190 to 195 seats), followed by the centre-right presidential camp (around 160 seats), and the extreme right and its allies (143 seats).
Key position
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for his part, demanded “a single candidate for the presidency of the National Assembly” in order to resume any other discussions.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS WALSCHAERTS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon
The left is playing big in this election to the perch: part of the Macronist camp has been trying for several days to build an alternative majority to the NFP for this key position, which Yaël Braun-Pivet intends to keep.
Representatives of the four left-wing groups met in the evening and agreed on the principle, according to concordant sources. Discussions on a name are to continue on Tuesday.
The left is playing big in this election to the lower house of parliament on Thursday.
For several days, part of the Macronist camp has been trying to build a majority to keep this key position, which the outgoing president Yaël Braun-Pivet intends to keep.
An agreement with the right, for example, could allow the presidential bloc to overtake the left in number of votes.
The subject was on the menu of discussions around Emmanuel Macron on Monday with the leaders of the presidential camp.
“The idea was to see […] “How can we imagine that someone other than the one proposed by the New Popular Front should preside over the Assembly,” confirms a participant.
Attal soon to resign
Gabriel Attal, still Prime Minister, could resign as early as Tuesday, when a Council of Ministers meeting is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
“It should be tomorrow,” confirms a close friend of Emmanuel Macron, in particular to allow all the ministers elected as deputies to participate in the election for the presidency of the National Assembly, then in the allocation of key posts at the Palais Bourbon, seat of the Assembly, on Friday and Saturday.
PHOTO LUDOVIC MARIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Emmanuel Macron (right) shakes hands with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal during the Bastille Day parade.
The current government team would, however, remain in place for a certain time, particularly during the very sensitive period of the Olympic Games, to manage “current affairs” and ensure the continuity of the State.
In the midst of the political uncertainty, one thing is certain for the future government: it will recover public finances in the red. In a thick report presented on Monday morning, the Court of Auditors draws up a worrying assessment.
The need to reduce debt is an “imperative” which “must be shared” by all political forces, warned its first president Pierre Moscovici.