“Now we’re rolling”, summarizes a source at the heart of the executive. From this Tuesday, July 5 in the morning, the day after the reshuffle, Emmanuel Macron meets at the Elysée Palace with Elisabeth Borne all the ministers concerned directly or indirectly by the fight against inflation to work on the purchasing power bill. . Around the table, eight ministers: Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, Gabriel Attal, in charge of Public Accounts, the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, Jean-christophe Combes, in charge of Solidarity. The tandem of the Ecological Transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher and Christophe Béchu, just promoted, is also invited, as well as Marc Fesneau, the Minister of Agriculture. Without forgetting Olivier Véran, the new government spokesperson.
Barely installed, the new ministers are therefore asked to embody the “action government“promised by the Prime Minister. This text on the purchasing power of the French must be presented Thursday to the Council of Ministers: it was announced on July 6, but will finally be delivered on the 7th. “We keep the deadlines”, we rejoice on the side of Matignon. And for good reason: this first project will keep the government and parliament busy beyond July, probably at least until the first week of August.
And some are already complaining about it: “If rebellious France fucks up the mess, we will take two weeks in the head”sighs a minister. “I warned them that it would be good if we went on vacation before we had to get home,” joked last week in a small committee Olivier Véran, when he was still Minister of Relations with Parliament.
The government makes this bill the symbol of its ability to build compromise. Yet the signals are weak. The SMIC at 1500 euros as claimed by the Nupes, is not for the executive. The price of a liter of gasoline at 1.50 euros claimed by the LRs is also no because it is far too expensive.
Behind the scenes, the battle of opinion is launched. If the union of the left presents Tuesday at midday its own bill “to respond to the social emergency”, the text of the government provides, for example, an early revaluation of social benefits by 4%, a limitation of the rise in rents to 3.5%, an increase in APL or even the extension of the discount of 18 cents per liter of gasoline at least until the end of August…
Summary of the alternative between this project and that of the oppositions according to the executive: responsibility or one-upmanship. “In a world of one-upmanship, there is no possible compromise”, already warns a heavyweight of the government, which already identifies the limits of the exercise. To his eyes, “leaving one’s political framework does not win opponents, it loses voters”.
Demonstrating that the government is not really looking for a compromise is, moreover, precisely the objective of the opposition, particularly on the left. “We are not obliged to give in to the ideological pressure of our adversaries”, already answers a leading minister. Not enough to reassure about the existence of a passageway that would avoid the blockage so dreaded by the executive. The moment of truth will be July 18, when the text is examined in session at the National Assembly.