Emmanuel Macron meets Wednesday, August 31, at the Elysée, the future staff of the Renaissance party. A new attempt to organize the main formation of the majority.
>> “Emmanuel Macron takes matters into his own hands”: behind the scenes of the government’s political return
“A hundred times on the loom, hand over your work“, you know the adage. And it’s a bit like the history of the structuring of the walkers since their mentor entered the Elysée Palace in 2017. Christophe Castaner was the first to stick to it, Stanislas Guérini succeeded him , but for five years, nothing helps: the party suffers from a triple deficit of leadership, organization and even identity.
It is always difficult to bring the main formation of a majority to life: how to exist without challenging the executive? But for walkers, it’s even more complicated because, basically, what is macronism? We see it at work in government, it’s a bit of a catch-all pragmatism, often liberal, sometimes dirigiste, but on the doctrinal level, it remains a mystery. It is therefore one of those very close to Emmanuel Macron who will be responsible for defining him at the head of Renaissance, the leader of Renaissance MEPs, Stéphane Séjourné.
And this time, there is urgency because the context is not the same: Emmanuel Macron does not have an absolute majority in the Assembly. And he will not be able to claim a third term in 2027. And that changes everything! Because for many, even within the majority, the post-Macron period began on April 24, the evening of his re-election.
The president pretended to have fun Monday evening by receiving at the Elysée the former deputies walkers beaten in the legislative elections. “Some are already thinking of the presidential elections“, he slipped. And that’s probably why Emmanuel Macron wants to involve all or almost all of them within the party. Bruno Le Maire, who should take charge of the “ideas” pole, Gérald Darmanin who will take care of the training of elected officials, and all the other tenors… All, except one: Edouard Philippe, of course, who has his own shop, Horizons and that the Elysée oversees from the corner of the eye.
This is why Emmanuel Macron directly pilots this reorganization of the majority himself. He knows what it cost his two re-elected predecessors to let go of the party. As early as 1988, the PS had repudiated François Mitterrand by choosing Pierre Mauroy as the new leader rather than Laurent Fabius. And as early as 2003, Nicolas Sarkozy defied Jacques Chirac loud and clear, repeating that he was thinking of the presidential election and “not just by shaving”. And then Emmanuel Macron also remembers that the one who had promised not to receive his party’s elephants at the Elysée, François Hollande, suffered the revolt of “rebels“which had even prevented him from representing himself.