The ongoing talks between the executive and the Republicans in order to reach a compromise in a joint committee raise fears of divisions in the presidential camp. The left wing of Renaissance and the centrists of MoDem are on the lookout.
The presidential camp is in the middle of a dilemma. Should we preserve the unity of the majority at all costs, even if it means renouncing the immigration bill? Or should we absolutely have this text voted on, by negotiating with Les Républicains, and thus take the risk of losing votes on the side of the left wing of Renaissance and the centrists of MoDem? “That’s the whole question.”smiles an executive advisor. “IWe must land on a text, because the French are asking us to do so, and preserve the unity of the majority: this is the path we must find and it is possible.”, wants to believe MP Paul Midy. A “at the same time” which promises to be very complex.
After the adoption of the rejection motion on Monday in the National Assembly and the astonishment that followed, the presidential camp wanted to move quickly. A joint committee (CMP) has been convened, which is due to meet on Monday December 18 at 5 p.m. If the fourteen parliamentarians who make it up manage to agree on a version of the text, the Assembly and the Senate will be called upon to decide the next day. But the ball is in the Republicans’ court. In the absence of a text in the Assembly, it is the hardened version voted by the Senate which serves as the basis for negotiations between the executive and the right.
The pundits of the right have warned: they will only mix their votes with that of the majority on the condition of resuming the entirety of the senatorial copy. A message that Eric Ciotti, the president of the Les Républicains party, claims on the social network X to have hammered home to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne during a new meeting in Matignon.
“Without the ability to govern, unity is not very useful”
This is where things get complicated. At Horizons, the party of Edouard Philippe, we are ready to build on the foundations of this senatorial agreement. “There is no subject for us, we had already said, before the examination in the law committee, that the Senate version suited us very well”, we recall within the group. If the troops of the former head of government will not be represented on Monday for lack of a joint committee, their 30 votes will then be necessary to pass the text to the Assembly.
On this line, we also find Bruno Le Maire. “NotDoes your country need a text on immigration? This seems obvious to me, estimated the Minister of the Economy in Le Figaro. But what is the only way today for such a law to pass? It is to take the Senate version, hoping that the LRs understand that we must move the lines on two sensitive points for our majority: the AME [l’aide médicale d’Etat] and conditions of access to social assistance.”
On RTL, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, also judged “obviously we have to get closer to the Senate text.” Obviously, this political line has repercussions among some at Renaissance.
“I plead to go as far as possible with the Senate version. We need a text and quickly.”
A Renaissance MPat franceinfo
A compromise with the right at the cost of dividing the majority? Some people are not far from thinking so. “You must first land on a text. If we don’t succeed, it will raise a question about the capacity to governexplains another Renaissance deputy. Without the ability to govern, unity is not very useful. But landing on a text does not mean that we compromise on any conditions, hence the mandate given to our negotiators.”
On Wednesday evening, Sylvain Maillard, the president of the Renaissance group, gathered his troops to give a “mandate” to the three deputies who are members of the CMP: Florent Boudié, Sacha Houlié and Marie Guevenoux. According to Sylvain Maillard’s entourage, of the 110 voters, only four rejected the proposal. In substance, the deputies approved the fact of aligning with the regularization measure, as voted by the Senate, or of retaining the ban on placing foreign minors under the age of 16 in detention centers. Among their red lines are the abolition of the AME or the conditioning of contributory social benefits to five years of residence in France.
“A minority seeks to move the group to the right”
But, for many, this vote, organized in haste, had little meaning. “It’s premature, we don’t have the text of the CMP, it’s not right”, annoys Stéphane Travert. The former Minister of Agriculture, left wing tendency, who was not there during the vote, assures that he would have abstained. “The Senate text is totally unacceptable to me and others”he promises.
“I have no doubts about the unity of the majority which will be behind the president and the government but at some point, there are also values and convictions.”
Stéphane Travert, Renaissance MPat franceinfo
The Senate’s position on professions in shortage is therefore far from agreeing with it. He is not the only one. The text of the upper house, “It’s an extreme right-wing text, it makes no sense to vote for these measures, it’s impossible”castigates Stella Dupont. “I prefer the unity of the majority to a bad text with the ideas of the LR”adds another deputy from the presidential camp, who points “an active minority which seeks to move the group further to the right”.
MP Nadia Hai completely slammed the door of the meeting on Wednesday evening, unhappy with the conditions of organization of this vote. “We have to stay united and to stay united, we need the balance of the text. What is the priority? The unity of the group or having a text?” said the former minister, before leaving the room. The elected official from Yvelines says she is waiting for the CMP to deliver a text to decide on her possible vote.
Given the urgency described by the executive, she also affirms that she is ready to vote only on the security aspect. “With some of our colleagues, we are ready to agree to vote on the text without the regularization aspect and to carry this part ourselves as parliamentarians”, adds another deputy, classified on the left wing. The door, barely ajar, was quickly closed by Bruno Retailleau, the boss of the LR senators. “We will not accept a little piecemeal law, which would have the sole objective of circumventing the divisions of the presidential majority.”he warned on the social network
“The hardest negotiation will be with the MoDem”
If part of the Renaissance troops are therefore not ready to align themselves with a large part of the Senate text, the problem arises to an increased extent with the centrist allies. “The hardest negotiation will be with the MoDem, they are the hardest”confides a majority executive. “They will seek to make it an element of differentiation”, rails a Renaissance deputy. But François Bayrou’s party has 51 deputies, which makes it essential support during the vote in the Assembly. “We also feel that the government fears what the MoDem will or will not do”also delivers the entourage of Bruno Retailleau to France Télévisions.
“We consider that the compromise work has already been done in committee. Any text which departs from this committee text would pose a problem for us.”
Erwan Balanant, MoDem deputyat franceinfo
François Bayrou broke his silence on Thursday evening on France 5. Although he did not give the position of the MoDem in this negotiation between the majority and the right, he nevertheless described it as“balanced” the version of the text written by the Assembly’s law committee. “We are ready to reach an agreement, but not to give up everything.”, supports the vice-president of the National Assembly, Elodie Jacquier-Laforge, who will represent her group in committee on Monday. Others warn: “By dint of wanting a text at all costs, we will manage to explode the majority, that is not the goal, therapeutic relentlessness is enough”annoys a MoDem parliamentarian.
However, even within MoDem, not everyone is on the same line. “There is a principle of reality that prevails: the French want this law. If the CMP is conclusive, we must not do stupid things, because that commits the rest of the five-year term”, nuance MP Bruno Millienne. This political sequence could leave lasting traces. “S“In the end, it is generally the text of the Senate, I think that, under pressure from the president, it will be voted by our majority, but with fractures and resentments that will remain”confides a minister to France Télévisions.