Why Lucie Castets has little chance of being appointed to Matignon after consultations at the Elysée

Emmanuel Macron could speak on Monday evening, after having received all the political forces. The various discussions on Friday, however, confirmed that the appointment of LFI ministers within the government remained a major sticking point.

The equation seems insoluble. While the political consultations that began on Friday August 23 at the Elysée are supposed to lead to the appointment of a Prime Minister, the prospect of seeing Lucie Castets appointed to Matignon is moving a little further away following the first discussions between Emmanuel Macron and the representatives of the different blocs. As a reminder, the 37-year-old ENA graduate, director of finances for the city of Paris, was chosen by the New Popular Front (NFP), which came out on top in the legislative elections organized after the dissolution caused by the President of the Republic (182 seats). But the Head of State seems determined not to give the keys to government to the NFP and its candidate.

The leaders of the left-wing coalition, the first to be received at the palace on Friday morning, displayed cautious optimism at the end of an exchange of about an hour and a half with Emmanuel Macron, led mainly by Lucie Castets. The latter thus noted, in Humanitya change in the president’s position, who had dismissed his nomination out of hand at the end of July, postponing the decision until after the Olympic Games. “He seems to take note of the fact that the French are waiting for a change in the policy pursued for seven years. He has accepted the clarification that he himself called for with the dissolution.”observed the aspiring Prime Minister. Emmanuel Macron, for his part, confided to his camp that he had had a dialogue “courteous and respectful” with the NFP delegation.

Lucie Castets, however, perceived resistance from the head of state to the custom which consists of “appoint a Prime Minister from the force that came out on top” to the elections. “The president presented himself rather not as an arbiter of institutions, as provided for in the Constitution of our beautiful country, but as a selector” and he “seems to want to form his own government”she said on Friday evening in Montpellier (Hérault) during the political return of the French Communist Party.

Emmanuel Macron’s lunch with the leaders of the presidential camp on Friday afternoon seems to have put paid to the Castets option. According to comments from participants reported by AFP, the president said he was looking for“an institutionally stable solution” facing a “unprecedented configuration” of the National Assembly. Objective: “avoid further dissolution” in a year, detailed the resigning Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in a message to the deputies of his group, consulted by AFP and franceinfo.

However, the appointment of Lucie Castets and, in turn, that of ministers from La France Insoumise (LFI) exposes, according to the presidential camp, to a risk of successive reshuffles and therefore of instability.

Emmanuel Macron thus asked the thorny question during this lunch:In the event of an NFP government, is the presence of ministers from LFI conceivable for the leaders of its camp? The answer was immediate: no. “All the groups in the central block” stated that they would be in favor of adopting a motion of censure in this case, Gabriel Attal explained to his troops. “How can we support, without opposing, a Minister of the Interior who describes our police officers as barbarians? ? A Minister of Agriculture who defines our farmers as polluters ? A Minister of Economy who treats our business leaders like bandits ? And so on”he continued.

“For the vast majority of parliamentarians who spoke, a government with the NFP programme, that is to say LFI, and LFI ministers, is impossible”MoDem president François Bayrou added to AFP. “We are ready”tweeted for his part The Renaissance MP for Eure-et-Loir and Minister Delegate for Housing, Guillaume Kasbarian, who has resigned, displaying an image of a motion of censure, in response to a message posted by Lucie Castets.

We are ready. https://t.co/k7wyTPCPZ4 pic.twitter.com/t5pcVu8mf7

— Guillaume Kasbarian (@guillaumekasba) August 23, 2024

On the same line, the Republican deputies would vote “immediately a motion of censure” against a government including LFI ministers, assured Laurent Wauquiez. Just like the National Rally, which has already made it known. For the centrist group Liot, whose votes are coveted, LFI is also “a sticking point”said its co-president Stéphane Lenormand, without however deciding on censure.

It seems, however, difficult for Lucie Castets to imagine appointing a government without including rebels. The senior civil servant has also ruled this out in her interview with Humanity.

“All the forces of the NFP will be represented in this government. (…) The ministers will be appointed according to their skills and the nature of their commitment.”

Lucie Castets

in “Humanity”

The prospect of seeing Lucie Castets’ candidacy definitively rejected at the end of these consultations has the left jumping. “Such a decision would be a violation of the results of the legislative elections”warned the LFI coordinator, Manuel Bompard, also promising a motion of censure and impeachment proceedings.years a text published on August 17 in The Sunday Tribune, The movement has already threatened to initiate proceedings against the president for his refusal “to take note” of the result of the legislative elections. “That’s called an autocrat: someone who rules alone.”launched Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Friday evening at the opening of the LFI summer universities.

A breakthrough in the situation in favour of Lucie Castets seems unlikely. Emmanuel Macron is due to meet again on Monday with Marine Le Pen and Eric Ciotti, as well as with the presidents of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet. All of these personalities are also opposed to a compromise with LFI.

The head of state pocould speak on Monday evening, several participants in the consultations told France Télévisions. ButAccording to an NFP participant speaking to AFP, the president has given himself until Wednesday evening, before the Paralympic Games, to decide.