“Since the Covid crisis, the Head of State has been very interested in this mythical reference that is the National Council of Resistance”analyzes Bruno Cautrès, CNRS researcher at Cevipof and professor at Sciences Po Paris, while the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron proposes the creation of a “National Council for Refoundation” in an interview given to the regional daily press a week before first round of legislative elections.
franceinfo: The major announcement of this interview is the creation of a National Council for Refoundation made up of political, economic, social, associative forces, elected representatives from the territories and citizens drawn by lot. How do you interpret this choice?
Bruno Cautrès: We have known since the Covid crisis that the Head of State and the government are very interested in this mythical reference in France which is the National Council of the Resistance. On several occasions, we have seen the Head of State refer to a period of war. At the very beginning of the epidemic, a minister had even spoken of“army of shadows” to evoke the French who were mobilizing to respond to the crisis. The Head of State is looking for a strong framework to launch his second term, with the idea of a refoundation, a word that is very important. Remember that the presidential party has just found a new name, that of Renaissance.
The CGT sees a provocation in this reference to the National Council of the Resistance…
In certain segments of the political life of our country, it is a very important reference. We remember that the National Council of the Resistance started during the Second World War under the impetus of General de Gaulle and Jean Moulin, bringing together all the Resistance movements, the political forces of the Third Republic, the trade unionists of the era and that it is an extremely strong marker of the post-war period. The Council had a program very inspired by the Communist Party, very left with nationalizations, in particular in the field of energy, and the creation of the future social security. For the moment, the program presented by the Head of State is rather made up of investments in future expenditure: education, hospitals, but it is true that they are quite far from the ideological foundations of the National Council of resistance.
Emmanuel Macron also sends a message to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, saying that he cannot be forced to appoint anyone to Matignon, even if the New Popular Union obtains a majority in Parliament. So he could choose someone other than the leader of the majority camp?
At that point in the interview, Emmanuel Macron said he would look at the balance of power in the National Assembly resulting from the elections of June 12 and 19 and that, in the process, he would appoint a Prime Minister. He is therefore very clearly opposed to Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s idea of being “elected” Prime Minister. He says first of all that one cannot win an election in which one has not presented oneself, and he recalls that the prerogatives of the Head of State in terms of appointing the Prime Minister give him the hands quite free. The agreement of Nupes, the new coalition of the left, expressly mentions that in the event of victory, it would be Jean-Luc Mélenchon who would be Prime Minister. If this is the case, there will be a balance of power between the Head of State and Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
In this interview, Emmanuel Macron is on the offensive, in the home stretch of the legislative elections. This campaign on the majority side, it is he who is actually leading it…
Yes, clearly. Until now, we had the feeling that there was not really a campaign for the legislative elections. We even wondered where the head of state had gone. Here, we see that it strongly frames the campaign. It borrows certain ideas that are dear to voters on the left: having programs for the future, involving citizens more closely. Very clearly, the Head of State is more present than ever. I also note that with regard to the National Council for Refoundation, it is, as at the time of the great national debate, as the main actor. He tells us : ‘I will launch this National Council myself, the Prime Minister and the government will bring it to life.’