Imagine Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the LFI, as well as his left-wing counterparts Fabien Roussel (PCF), Olivier Faure (PS), Marine Tondelier (EELV), sitting next to Hervé Marseille (UDI), Éric Ciotti (LR) and Jordan Bardella. (RN), for a work meeting behind closed doors. All this in the presence of Emmanuel Macron, the leaders of the majority parties (Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons), as well as the presidents of the two chambers of Parliament, Yaël Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larcher.
Here you have the scenery of the “great political initiative” wanted by the President of the Republic. Who wants this unprecedented coupling to translate into “immediate decisions, projects and legislative proposals, but also referendum projects”as he explained to Spot.
In any case, one absent from this long list of guests: the Liot group. Not being invited, he expressed his discontent denouncing a “bad sign” that “seems a retaliatory measure for our opposition to the pension reform and the presentation of a motion of censure, last March.” The provision failed to unseat Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne by nine votes.
The oppositions will come with their referendum proposal
For guests, the appointment is at the Saint-Denis Legion of Honor school (Seine-Saint-Denis) at 3:00 p.m. The exchanges will continue during a dinner in which the Nupes have already announced that they will not participate, denouncing as such “a media staging.”
Emmanuel Macron specified the topics of discussion that will be addressed. On the menu: “the international situation”, the “efficiency” of “our public action”, “the cohesion of the Nation”, but also “the place of the school”, as well as the questions of “integration”, of “purchasing power and inequality”.
A broad program to which the various elected officials will add their grain of salt, even if that means changing the agenda. “I’m not going to talk only about that,” Manuel Bompard slipped, for example, on France 2 this Tuesday. After verifying that the Head of State opens the door to referendums, the oppositions want to take advantage of the occasion to present their proposals in this regard: the left presses for a vote in France on pensions, while the right and its extreme do the same Same thing with immigration.
BFMTV.com details the various measures desired by the opposition.
Immigration, purchasing power and school for registered nurses
Jordan Bardella received a phone call last Thursday from Emmanuel Macron, who spoke to him for about fifteen minutes, BFMTV learned on Tuesday. The opportunity for the head of the National Group to discuss his priorities before the meeting with the President of the Republic. The first: to ask for the organization of a referendum on France’s immigration policyon June 9, 2024, coinciding with the European elections.
“The urgency of the situation requires a consultation with the French people (…) on our immigration policy, which includes all the measures to regain control of it,” writes the MEP in his letter.
Jordan Bardella also intends to alert the President of the Republic about purchasing power and request a “moratorium on any increase in taxes and duties”, until the end of the five-year term in 2027. In addition, the RN advocates for the ” reduction in energy bills and fuel prices, tax exemption for salary increases of up to 10% and the suppression of the CVAE (contribution to the added value of companies, editor’s note) to favor reindustrialization”.
Lastly, the far-right formation calls for “a review of school programs that emphasize a high command of fundamental learning, the French language, science and the history of the Nation.” At the same time that he asks to “guarantee a greater attractiveness of the vocation”. from the teacher for an additional revaluation”.
Back to school, ecology and retreats for the left
In a joint letter to the President of the Republic, dated this Tuesday, the four Nupes formations indicate that they will attend this meeting with Emmanuel Macron without “illusions”. However, they promise to make “proposals in the interest of the people, and this while a difficult return to school is looming.”
In this sense, the left evokes the increase in the price of school supplies, the cost of student living, the price of electricity, fuel and the inflation of food products. Another prominent theme: the consequences of “climate change”, illustrated by a “record[s] global heat”, “fires” or even “drought”.
Like all oppositions, the Nupes will also present a referendum proposal. It will be, as expected, pensions.
“This is what the French have been asking for in a majority and massive way for months and months. So this is the only referendum that I could support,” explained Manuel Bompard.
If this request has no chance of obtaining the consent of the President of the Republic, it will allow the left to remember its firm opposition to this text and to put it back on the agenda. In recent months, he had submitted two joint initiative referendum requests to reconsider the postponement of the legal age, before they were rejected by the Constitutional Council.
Immigration, justice, security for the right
Éric Ciotti wants to “immediately return the word to the people”. The president of the Les Républicains party will take advantage of the meeting with Emmanuel Macron to once again demand the organization of a referendum on immigration, as well as a modification of the Constitution, necessary to launch such an initiative.
The referendum proposed by LR would be related to a bill presented by the party at the end of May. This text consists, in particular, of registering the possibility of “derogating the primacy of the Treaties and of European Law”. The right then proposes a whole series of measures (reinstatement of the crime of illegal residence, restriction of the right to land, return of the double penalty) grouped in a second bill.
In addition, Éric Ciotti wants to advocate for a reinforcement of security and justice, the abolition of all the “rights of illegal immigrants”, the compulsory uniformity at school and at the university, the abolition of subsidies for ” parents who fail in their duties”.
Source: BFM TV
