Several French left-wing parties will not attend the new round of consultations announced by President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday after he rejected the nomination of his candidate Lucie Castet as prime minister, a decision that has angered the coalition – and is further escalating tensions. MPs have received what is called a disgrace. The Elysée rejected Castet because “a government based solely on the programme and parties proposed by the New Popular Front coalition would be immediately criticised by all the other groups”.
The Socialists and environmental activists announced on Tuesday that they would not participate in the consultations, joining the Elysée’s plan not to convene the main force of the progressive New Popular Front coalition, France Insoumise (LFI). “I refuse to be an accomplice in a parody of democracy,” the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, said this morning in an interview with France 2.
“Now he’s telling the French they voted wrong.”
He considers that Macron’s refusal to appoint a prime minister from the political bloc that won the most seats in the last legislative elections represents a “democratic problem.” “What is actually happening is that [Macron] He added that what he does not want is to implement the new Popular Front programme, and to cancel the pension reform “that was implemented last year.”
The secretary-general of the environmentalist party EELV, Marine Tondillier, accused Macron of an “illiberal drift” by refusing to hand over the keys to government to the political bloc with the most seats in the National Assembly. Tondillier announced that they would call the protest “mobilization,” although he stressed that it would be “peaceful,” he told France Info public radio.
Castet herself admitted to feeling “angry” because the president called early elections “without consultation, something that no one understood”, and more than a month later “told the French that it was useless, that they voted wrongly”, according to FranceInter radio.
The Elysee announced late Monday afternoon that after political consultations with the heads of the main parliamentary parties were over, Macron would not appoint Castet and would resume meetings with the parties.
Elysee sources explained that neither the LFI party nor the far-right party led by Marine Le Pen and its allies – whom the president considers outside the Republican arc – were invited to the new round.
One of Macron’s main allies, the leader of the centrist Democratic Movement party, François Bayrou, has insisted that the current situation is “not a complete blockade.” Bayrou justifies Macron’s rejection of a left-wing prime minister by saying that the program of the New Popular Front coalition, according to the presidential camp, is in fact the program of France Insoumise.
The Elysee believes that “stability does not advise” the formation of a government affiliated with the New National Party.
“A government that relies solely on the programme and parties proposed by the coalition with the largest number of deputies, the New Popular Front, will be immediately censured by all the other groups,” the Elysée said in a statement. “The institutional stability of our country advises against this option,” it said. The text also said Macron was opening a new round of dialogue with “party leaders and figures distinguished by their experience in the service of the state.”
This rejection is due to the fact that the National Front party “did not propose ways of cooperating with other political forces,” as other political formations have done, according to the Elysée, including the groups that make up Macronism.
Without additional support, the 193 MPs the NDP has gained since early summer elections will not be enough to overcome potential censure motions, as they are far from an absolute majority of 289 seats in the National Assembly.
With information from EFE
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