Immutable tradition, the commemoration of the liberation of Bormes-les-Mimosas kicked off, Thursday evening, the presidential return. The Head of State celebrated during his speech not far from Fort Brégançon, a “lesson of courage which obliges us and must inspire us”. This at a time when the war in Ukraine continues to put Westerners under tension.
A historical reminder, which finds resonance in the news, pronounced among the inhabitants of the small Var town which is home to Fort Brégançon, where Emmanuel Macron has resided in recent weeks. Time during which it was rather discreet, thanks to a calmer summer than the previous ones. Apart from the recent coup d’etat in Niger which forced him to make international contacts, the head of state has not been exposed to the controversies which sometimes affect his leave. Only a few shots of the president on a jet ski or accompanied by the first lady on a boat filtered through the German tabloid Bild. Barely enough to contradict the story told by the Élysée of a “studious” summer before an autumn when the president hopes to regain control. And turn your back on the start of a badly handled second five-year term.
Back in Paris next week, he will meet his government on Wednesday for a Council of Ministers. Then he will set about nurturing the “major political initiative ” promised before the holidays. For Emmanuel Macron, it is a question of getting out of the expectation caused by the absence of an absolute majority in the National Assembly. The head of state thinks he can offer the “political forces of the republican arc” a “series of meetings to determine projects on which to walk together”. Including the migration file, on the executive’s agenda for the next few weeks, but which has been struggling to achieve consensus for several months. Even within the majority, the subject divides. Other major projects are concerned, such as that of the ecological transition – delayed by the procrastination which followed the adoption of the pension reform last spring. No timetable for the first meetings with the political parties concerned has been communicated at this stage.
This umpteenth attempt to stabilize the five-year term comes as the Prime Minister, unenthusiastically confirmed in office in July, failed to enlarge the majority. “”Renaissance must take proposals but which do not come from it”, warned Thursday morning on Franceinfo Valérie Rabault, the president of the PS group at the Palais Bourbon. “The consensus cannot be the proposals” of the presidential party, she insisted. The compromise nevertheless risks being quickly shattered on the essential stage of the 2024 budget, the examination of which will mark the fall. The executive knows that it cannot convince its opponents to vote for it. A salvo of 49.3 then appears inevitable to have it adopted without the vote of the deputies. It will then be necessary to avoid the motions of censure inherent in the triggering of this legislative weapon. The main unknown lies in the attitude of the right, while some LR parliamentarians threaten to join their voices with other oppositions to bring down the government.
Alongside his own initiatives, Emmanuel Macron will witness the growing emancipation of those around him. Its Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, will gather his troops for the first time on August 27 in Tourcoing, after having explained his interest in the presidential election of 2027. The former head of state, Nicolas Sarkozy, is also coming to dub it in his latest book, Le Temps des combats (Fayard). For his part, the former Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe, will publish a book on education in early September, after having ruled out the idea of finding a ministerial morocco. So many marks of affirmation that Emmanuel Macron will have to integrate into his political equation.
