For the first days of the second five-year period, the time is at the discretion of the executive boards. The first few months of Emmanuel Macron’s second term have disappointed even the faithful who now hope to see the president regain control.
“We have nothing to celebrate in particular. We just have to breathe and tell ourselves that we have finally started to put the train on the rails, ”says a deputy, faithful from the first hour.
Floating to name your prime minister
Just re-elected last April 24 against Marine Le Pen, the tenant of the Elysée Palace considers it urgent… not to change anything. Although she had promised not to want to serve a second term “for nothing”, assuring her desire for an “ecological revolution”, she decided to keep Jean Castex in her position for more than three weeks.
It is that the casting in Matignon is more complicated than expected. The job description may be redacted, but the five-legged sheep that must combine the “social, environmental and productive” fiber, in addition to being a woman, is not easy to find. After a long hesitation, Elisabeth Borne is finally appointed.
“It was not so much his appointment that gave a funny impression as this endless wait. We had the feeling that we had not really prepared ourselves for the post-reelection period”, cowardly with from BFMTV.com a Renaissance senator (ex-La République on going).
The Abad affair, the first storm
Newly appointed, the Prime Minister must face her first political storm. The day after the appointment of her government, Mediapart reveals a complaint and a rape complaint against Damián Abad, the new Solidarity minister.
“We wanted to give a political blow by removing a size from the LR. Result: we are in a total mess,” a Bercy adviser despaired in the process.
Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré radio silence before the presidency finally acknowledges having been aware of the filing of a complaint, according to information from BFMTV.
The Stade de France fiasco, the streak that stains
Less than a week later, Emmanuel Macron must deal with another sequence that has a very bad effect: the Stade de France fiasco. First directly in his boots, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin is forced to present a timid apology, after protests from the president.
Two weeks before the legislative elections, some are beginning to worry in high places.
“We gave him the hiccups and finally we saw very little of the president at that moment while the outgoing deputies campaigned. Many of us told him ‘come on, you’re coming out of the forest’”, confided a parliamentarian on BFMTV.
failed legislative
Message received: three days before the first round of general elections, the Head of State launches into a speech on the Orly dance floor, before a visit to Romania and then to Kyiv. Sensing the change of tide, he launches the National Rally and the Nupes in all directions with the aim of obtaining an absolute majority.
“We need a solid majority to defend our economy, your economies. Nothing would be worse than getting lost in immobility, blockages and postures ”, he launches under the eye of the cameras, in a sequence that surprised many.
the ace The presidential coalition only manages to win a relative majority with 246 Renaissance, Horizons and Modem deputies, far from the results of 2017 with 308 elected under the unique colors of the president.
Worse still: historical pillars, pivots of the presidential system, are defeated, like Christophe Castaner and Richard Ferrand, as well as several of their ministers. The National Association, for its part, manages to bring 89 deputies while the leftist union with the Nupes already has 131 elected to the Assembly.
A communication considered disastrous
“We had gold on our hands with Marine Le Pen who had given up before even fighting and Jean-Luc Mélenchon who is a foil for moderate voters. We ruined everything, we didn’t take the time to fight,” laments a ministerial adviser. . .
In the dock of the accused to justify this failed strategy, the absence of a communication advisor next to the Head of State. The faithful Clément Léonarduzzi jumped ship a few days after the second round of the presidential elections and the post became vacant at a crucial moment (his successor Quitterie Lemasson was finally appointed on Saturday, July 30, editor’s note).
Fatigue also weighs heavily on the balance, between the presidential campaign, the war in Ukraine and the rotating presidency of the European Union, giving the impression of an “exhausted” president, “who no longer wants to”.
“A new method” to regain control
Forced to deal with the new political situation, Emmanuel Macron, however, wants to regain control and promises to launch “a new method” to “co-construct” bills, beyond partisan labels. In his viewfinder, the LR deputies, now seen as majority makers in the National Assembly.
Eager to get on stage, the president multiplies in-depth consultations with party leaders. Despite all his efforts to steal figures from the right, he only managed to bring into his government elected officials who broke the bench with his party, such as Christophe Béchu and Caroline Cayeux.
But by mishmash, the executive manages, despite several disappointments, to pass three bills in the National Assembly: Covid-19, purchasing power, reform of the tax law. What augurs better days in the seats of the executive.
A comeback under high tension
“It took a long time to digest the new situation, which is quite new and far from his way of exercising power, but we see that we are already arriving and that we have understood how to do it,” a ministerial adviser advances optimistically.
The fall will be a test, with the 2023 finance project. Highly technical, the country’s budget is also very political and will show whether the president’s method of concessions against the LRs pays off.
The Executive also hopes that the French will appreciate the government’s purchasing power gestures in the coming weeks and put them to the credit of the president.
To soothe the heart after months of doubt, a poll has probably lifted Emmanuel Macron’s morale: his popularity gained 4 points in July according to a BVA poll for RTL, after having plummeted severely in June.
Source: BFM TV
