First political “improvement”, then structure: meeting this Saturday in Metz, the executives of the future Renaissance presidential party reaffirmed their common values, postponing questions of organization, with the idea of confederation mentioned by the Left Progressive Territories.
It was at the Center des Congrès Robert-Schuman, a pro-European party, where the presidential movement held its first meeting after the long electoral sequence that earned Emmanuel Macron re-election in the Elysee, but the loss of the absolute majority in the Assembly.
The few hundred executives present worked on the “common values” of Renaissance, which bring together La République en Marche, Minister Franck Riester’s right-wing Agir party and, on the left wing, Minister Olivier Dussopt’s Territories of Progress.
“Let’s build our house of overcoming! Let us build this common house with all those who want to act in the service of the French, in the service of our country, in the service of Europe”, concluded Elisabeth Borne.
“Overcoming”, this doctrine of macronism “and of the right and left”, in the words of the founder, will continue to be the leitmotif of the Renaissance. Questioning it would be “losing our own course,” the prime minister warned.
And “beyond the Renaissance, Territories of Progress and Action, it is ‘Together’, with the MoDem, with Horizons”, recalled the prime minister, referring to the allied but autonomous parties of François Bayrou and Édouard Philippe, absent in Metz.
Those present, including ministers Bruno Le Maire, Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Clément Beaune, and legislative greats Richard Ferrand and Christophe Castaner have refined their “table of values” gathered into twelve “founding principles”: Republic, Europe, freedom, secularism. , equal opportunities, progress, ecology, work, feminism, nation, state authority, territorial initiative.
Also on the agenda: organizational issues. Greater decentralization, a weak point in the last five years, and the establishment of a paid subscription are a consensus in a party forged on free membership.
Fusion or “confederation”?
“Activists, sympathizers… We cannot say how many we are. We intend 400,000 members and yesterday I read that the active militants would be only 5,000,” summarized the referent En Marche de Cantal Gilles Desplaces during a workshop.
There remains the question of the structure between the three member parties, and this is where the deal gets complicated. Do we need a merger? “Emmanuel Macron wants a single party, this is the roadmap of Stéphane Séjourné”, the designated successor of LaREM general delegate Stanislas Guerini, according to a participant.
Rather a “confederation”, as Olivier Dussopt mentions, in which the parties retain their independent existence? During the conclusions, this hypothesis received boos from the room. A confederal structure would be “a first step towards a more unified work, with parties that remain independent,” although “a single party could be the goal,” said Eduardo Rihan Cypel, TDP spokesman.
LaREM did not seem to want to stay, with a membership vote announced in mid-September. But landing with the two allied parties should take longer, possibly until the 2024 European elections, according to one leader.
No “deadly caporalization”, “exacerbated centralism” or “effacement of sensitivities” tried to reassure Stéphane Séjourné. The leader of the Macronist MEPs recalled his desire to establish a “collegiate leadership” that includes “great figures of the majority.” Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin have already made their interest known.
Everything to face the exacerbated political context, the uncertainties linked to the absence of a majority, the strong push of the National Association in the Assembly. Renaissance will have to “go to the reconquest of the working classes and the French who hesitate and could be tempted by extremes”, explained Stéphane Séjourné.
“I don’t want us to be the next Obama, that is, a re-election, an ability to do things, but in the end leave the country in the hands of someone or a political group that could harm them,” warned the deputy. Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet.
Source: BFM TV
