Will the Legion of Honor school house, this Wednesday, an unexpected relaunch of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term? In Saint-Denis, the Head of State will once again rely on opposition to bring about a far from obvious agreement. Received collectively at 3 p.m., the eleven party leaders represented in Parliament, the presidents of the National Assembly, of the Senate and of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese), as well as the Prime Minister will exchange “broken sticks” with the leader of State.
Behind closed doors, without image, without collaborator or public expression at the end. “A frank discussion” during an “unprecedented and loyal meeting”, guarantees the Elysée, which wishes to dissociate this meeting from the political situation at the Palais Bourbon, where Emmanuel Macron does not benefit from an absolute majority.
This time it is not a question of trying to form a coalition. In order to find specific “consensus”, the presidency plans three periods of dialogue: first on the international situation, then on the institutions and their simplification, before a working dinner where it will be a question of the authority and the way of “making a nation”. All the parties invited have decided to be present, with the exception of the Insoumis, who will boycott the dinner.
Yet another act of defiance between Macronie and LFI when Jean-Luc Mélenchon accused the executive of provoking a “religious war” after the announcement of an upcoming ban on the abaya. “The far left” wants to “fuck up the Republic”, also dropped the Keeper of the Seals, Éric Dupond-Moretti on RTL, taking stock of the riots at the start of the summer.
Much will be said about the conclusions to be drawn from these events. From Tuesday morning at the Élysée, eleven ministers received by Emmanuel Macron were invited to share their ideas ahead of the Saint-Denis Meetings. “The president is looking for a strong political object”, explains an adviser to the executive, while the outcome of the “major political initiative” announced by the head of state is not stopped. . Much of the discussion focused on what “post-riot” responses to formulate. The same evening, an identical exercise was to be held with the tenors of the majority.
Around Emmanuel Macron, many are those who plead in favor of a referendum, with one or more questions. Government spokesman Olivier Véran spoke of a “preferendum”, “a concept that would allow us to test several subjects at the same time during the same vote”, he said on BFMTV on Monday.
On very broad social issues to ensure that they provoke the interest of the country. A referendum on immigration, “it is not a taboo”, thus declared Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, the Secretary of State for the City questioned Tuesday on LCI. Even if she prefers to question other “big social issues that can tear our nation apart”. Some evoke a vote on the end of life, others on authority – through the modalities of universal national service, for example – or even cannabis. “When a single question is proposed, the French do not answer the question, but only its author”, explains one of the ministers invited to the palace. An adviser to Emmanuel Macron assures him: “Never has his will been as mature as now” to propose such a consultation.
“We see that a program on which a President of the Republic is elected quickly smashes on the rapid changes in the world. We saw it with the Covid or the war in Ukraine. Coming back to the French more often than once every five years is a good idea”, assures Thierry Beaudet, the president of Cese. “It has become impossible for elected officials to rely on the legitimacy of the election to go through an entire mandate without returning to the French”, he insists, seeing with a good eye the initiative proposed by the leader of State.
At the Élysée, it is assured that the continuation of the Saint-Denis Meetings is not written: “There is no hidden agenda. He will not arrive with a list of proposals or with a final statement written in advance. A less vertical way of consulting, in the hope of making the oppositions less definitive in their judgments. What is more, at the dawn of an autumn of all dangers where a motion of censure, which would be discussed on the sidelines of the examination of the 2024 budget or the immigration law, could be voted on. A minister summarizes the spirit of the initiative: “Some opposition may be touched by grace during the Saint-Denis Meetings… At the very least, Emmanuel Macron will have documented the chronicle of a president who has tried everything “.
