Twelve hours, 720 minutes and 43,200 seconds. The “Saint-Denis Meetings”, which began at 3:00 p.m., ended shortly after 3:00 a.m., in the middle of the night. For the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, Emmanuel Macron invited the leaders of the political parties to the house of education of the Legion of Honor in Saint-Denis to “converge without denials or resignations”. On the menu, three topics: the international situation, the institutions and the “cohesion of the nation”.
At the end of this very long meeting, the protagonists who spoke to the press expressed their disappointment. “We came, we saw and we were disappointed,” said the head of the environmental organization Marine Tondelier.
“There is no conclusion at the moment,” Jordan Bardella stated a few minutes before, explaining that the Head of State has “taken note” and should “return to the national representation to provide an agenda and a calendar.” The entourage of the Head of State told BFMTV at dawn that a “social conference” on “careers and sectors below the minimum wage” should be organized. The date of this next meeting has not yet been specified at the time of writing these lines.
He speaks too much?
“Each one passed by one after the other, giving their diagnosis of the situation,” one of the participants told reporters after the long meeting. “There were few exchanges,” he added.
“A topic is launched, everyone gives their opinion, the President takes note and we move on to the next topic,” summarized this participant.
That is why the “round tables” lasted tens of minutes each, and the first one on the international situation ended around 8:00 p.m., four hours after the start of the event.
“In the end, the President of the Republic has verified that none of the political forces sitting at the table supported the Russian intervention in Ukraine,” launched Manuel Bompard at the end of the act. The rebels had “the impression of living 12 hours on the planet Mars.”
Surprise dinner, no phone.
Surely no one had planned to spend so much time in Saint-Denis. Initially, the meeting was to end in the early afternoon and continue with a dinner, in which the Nupes leaders had no intention of participating. “They didn’t want to have dinner, they’re going to have breakfast!” he said in the night to several journalists the environment of a participant.
“We changed rooms so that they could serve us at the table,” said a politician after twelve hours.
Throughout the day, nothing leaked about the content of the discussions: the press was kept away, and participants had to part with their phones, which they only briefly retrieved during short breaks between sessions.
A participant congratulated his entourage on their “quite peaceful and constructive” state of mind, AFP reported in the afternoon. “Both things were done in a very civilized way, but at the same time very frank,” said Olivier Faure, first secretary of the PS.
Towards the organization of a “social conference”
As for the substance, the principle of a “social conference” was “validated” by Macron before the leaders of the parties, Agence France Presse announced, citing the entourage of the President of the Republic. Information confirmed by BFMTV.
A few minutes earlier, Olivier Faure indicated that Emmanuel Macron had said he was willing to work on a “salary conference” requested by the Nupes. It is the only proposal on the left “that has not been swept away”, affirmed the head of the PS, affirming that “we are far from the great night”.
“Every time we made proposals, we had the impression that they would say no or that we might see a working group”, explained Manuel Bompard.
New encounters?
In a statement, Jordan Bardella explained that he had specifically requested the organization of a referendum on immigration for June 9, 2024, the same day as the European elections.
No other participants spoke publicly after the meeting. Overnight, AFP announced that Emmanuel Macron wants to invite party leaders back in “an identical format.” For another twelve hour meeting?
“There are several points that will give rise to parliamentary debates,” added a politician. “Others will give rise to work formats between parties, we don’t know more.”
On the other hand, there should not be a referendum. The participants “initially agreed to start working on the referendum,” Emmanuel Macron’s entourage told BFMTV.
“The President of the Republic will send in the next few days a letter summarizing the discussions and the proposed lines of work that everyone can modify to continue the discussions on this basis,” said this source.
Source: BFM TV
