we tell you about the “tumultuous” first year of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term

“There is nothing to say about this first year.” Seated in a cafe not far from the National Assembly, this deputy of the majority recovers: “We messed it up, if we want to be honest. The only thing we remember is the pension reform.” For his part, Marc Ferracci, Renaissance deputy and close to the president, evokes “a tumultuous year”while the academic Benjamin Morel drops the adjective “erratic”.

Monday April 24 marks the first anniversary of the re-election of Emmanuel Macron, once again victorious over Marine Le Pen. A feat, insisted at the time the supporters of the Head of State: never a President of the Republic had won a second five-year term outside the period of cohabitation. Twelve months later, many of them are wondering about the meaning of this new mandate, while the pension crisis has plunged the country into a social and even political crisis.

Contacted, the Head of State’s team never returned to franceinfo to take stock of this first year. “The only question is: ‘What does Emmanuel Macron want to do with this second five-year term?’explicit with France Televisions a former adviser to the Elysée. Transform France or become Chirac. He has to go fast, otherwise it’s over.”

The specter of the end of the reign of the former president (1995-2007), with the failure of the CPE whose law was promulgated but never applied, haunts the majority. “We are not in the chiraquisation, with these years of total immobility. We must keep the reform course”, assures Renaissance MP Benjamin Haddad. But to do what ? “The big question is what’s next”, slips a minister.

Pensions, “Captain Haddock’s Band-Aid”

In his speech post-promulgation of the pension reform, Emmanuel Macron set priority projects, such as that of work or progress, and asked his Prime Minister for a detailed roadmap. He gave himself 100 days to do “a first assessment”after a speech that could have resembled that of a newly elected president. “We are seeing the end of the first five-year term. This pension reform was Captain Haddock’s band-aid that we couldn’t get rid of. Now that it is done, the second five-year term begins”wants to believe a Renaissance executive.

However, pensions were one of the only highlights of Emmanuel Macron’s program. “The president led a campaign where he did not instil a real project for the country, except that of shifting the legal age of departure”, assures the director of studies of Ipsos, Mathieu Gallard. To the defense of the Head of State, the outbreak of war in Europe on February 24 upset his plans and shortened the time spent in the arena of the presidential election. “It was complicated to campaign without taking Ukraine into account”defends the deputy of the Modem Bruno Millienne. “Of course, the war hampered the campaign but that did not prevent him from saying how he saw France in 2030”protests an elected official of the majority.

“From the start of the campaign, Emmanuel Macron was out of time, he was not up to speed.”

A majority parliamentarian

at franceinfo

The re-election of the president did not arouse “in a state of grace, to say the least”recognizes Bruno Millienne. “We ran a hard-fought campaign, we fought like dogs, but no one had prepared for the aftermath”, reveals a relative of Emmanuel Macron. “That explains the great moment of floating”he adds.

In fact, Emmanuel Macron then procrastinated, “as he knows how to do so well”, confides to France Télévisions one of his advisers. The government, led by Jean Castex, did not move before May 13, the date of the official end of the first five-year term. Elisabeth Borne, appointed three days later, came from the previous team, as did many ministers.

Seven long weeks have passed between the presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for June 12 and 19. Candidates from the presidential camp were desperate not to see their boss wet his shirt, when they were (already) being slapped on pensions. On the contrary, the dynamic was on the opposition side, on the far right with Marine Le Pen and her favorite theme of purchasing power, or on the left with the creation of Nupes.

Added to this were various problems. There was the Damien Abad affair, this defector from LR who became a minister and accused of rape. The new government was also shaken by the controversy over the security management of the Champions League final. Eight days before the first round, Emmanuel Macron finally came out of the woodwork during an interview with the regional press, highlighting “a new method” and announcing the establishment of a National Refoundation Council (CNR).

Officially launched in early September and boycotted by the opposition, supposed to be “the laboratory of the new method of developing public policies” in the words of a player in the case, the CNR still struggles today to impose itself in the minds of the French and suffers the wrath of the majority behind the scenes. “The balance sheet is zero, it gives the impression that we are pedaling empty”launches a deputy, several months later. “Citizens don’t know what it is, it needs to be beefed up and made more political”, argues Renaissance MP Jean-Marc Zulesi. We are far from the great national debate, “stroke of genius” of Emmanuel Macron, according to Mathieu Gallard, to get out of the crisis of “yellow vests”.

The shock of the relative majority

The results of the legislative elections, on the other hand, constituted a thunderclap in the French political landscape. “We said: ‘Careful, it stinks’, and we were told: ‘It’s going to do it'”, remembers, annoyed, a parliamentarian yet re-elected. In the end, the presidential camp lost its absolute majority, with 250 seats, far from the threshold of 289. A real “massacre”we then whispered in the Macronist ranks. “We understood that the five-year term was going to be very difficult”says a newcomer to the Palais-Bourbon.

“Emmanuel Macron had rather projected himself into a five-year term in the Third Republic, where he could set a course and focus on the international, but with the relative majority, he was forced to compose “, analyzes one of his relatives. The Head of State also lost two heavyweights, Christophe Castaner, the boss of the deputies of La République en Marche and especially his faithful friend, Richard Ferrand, President of the National Assembly during the first five-year term.

“All those who embodied macronie were beaten.”

A majority parliamentarian

at franceinfo

Replacements had to be urgently found, who are far from being close to Emmanuel Macron. Aurore Bergé took the lead of the Renaissance group, and Yaël Braun-Pivet imposed herself on the perch. The deputies preferred her to the deputy Roland Lescure, the president’s favourite.

At the beginning of the summer, the executive tried timidly to forge partisan alliances with a view to forming a coalition. All parties refused. Therefore, to establish compromises “text by text”, the government has promised a new method with shorter bills, transmitted earlier to the deputies and which are concerted upstream. “Observers said it was going to be ungovernable, but the institutions are made to manage these situations and it partly worked”deciphers Mathieu Gallard.

In fact, as the presidential camp likes to point out, texts have been adopted with the contribution of voices from opposition groups: the purchasing power bill with Les Républicains and the National Rally, the one on insurance -unemployment with the right, or the text aimed at accelerating renewable energies, this time with the Socialist Party and Liot. However, for the budgetary texts, the finance bill and the one on social security, the executive decided to draw the famous article 49.3 of the Constitution which allows a text to be adopted without a vote.

Since the beginning of this legislature, Elisabeth Borne has already used this article 11 times. “The budget 49.3 did not leave a strong impression on public opinion because they understood that France needed a budget”, certifies Renaissance MP Benoit Bordat. But, the one used, on March 16, by the government on pensions, set fire to the powder. A large part of the deputies of the presidential camp wanted to go to the vote. “With 49.3, the quinquennium ends”, then warned a figure of the majority. But the deal with LR was deemed too risky. “The fact that they are a reliable partner is no longer at all obvious”concludes the deputy Marc Ferracci.

“He will change everything from floor to ceiling”

In the process, the “transpartisan” censure motion was rejected by nine votes, narrowly saving an already weakened Elisabeth Borne. After weeks of peaceful protest, in contrast to an eruptive National Assembly, violence broke out in several cities in France. As in the time of the “yellow vests”, the person of Emmanuel Macron is again questioned, his way of exercising power, too vertical, is singled out. His interview with the JT of TF1 and France 2, March 22, did not calm the spirits. The government temporized by linking the fate of the pension reform to the decision of the Constitutional Council.

On April 14, the Elders validated most of the pension reform, a decision followed three days later by a presidential address to turn the page. “Emmanuel Macron is trying to draw perspectives to close this streak but the French do not think in terms of streak, and it may remain for months”assures Mathieu Gallard.

In fact, Emmanuel Macron’s returns to the field are polluted by opponents of pension reform who welcome him with boos and pans. Politically, the sequence is not yet closed. The Constitutional Council must decide on May 3 on the second shared initiative referendum. In addition, a proposal to repeal the pension reform tabled by Liot will be studied on June 8. by the Assembly.

Internally, some are now attacking the government, which is too bloated (42 ministers and secretaries of state), but above all not political enough. “When there is a minister in the bench [dans l’hémicycle]we wonder who it is in the spansays a deputy. We have ministers below everything. The president can actually only rely on five ministers: Gérald Darmanin, Bruno Le Maire, Gabriel Attal, Clément Beaune and Sébastien Lecornu.”

“We put everything on the back of the president but there is also a failure at the level of the government. If the messages have not gone well, it is not the fault of the president. We do not know how to communicate and embody things. “

A member of the majority

at franceinfo

Supporters of Emmanuel Macron cling to their champion. “I don’t know what the miracle solution is. It will take political audacity but the president will regain control”promises an influential MP. “He will change everything from floor to ceiling to revitalize the majority, the reshuffle must arrive before the summer”, confides a relative. “As long as Emmanuel Macron has political capital, he will put pressure in the pipes to promote bills and obtain concrete results for the French people”book Marc Ferracci again.

Others are more skeptical. “No one has yet learned the lessons of June 2022confides a deputy to France Télévisions. I liken it to the grieving process. A year later, it’s still amazement.”