“We thought it would be very hot and the doors would slam, but it is actually very cold.” With these few words, a Renaissance deputy summarizes with BFMTV.com the atmosphere within the government coalition in the midst of studying the budget for 2025.
Defeat in devices of high symbolic value, weak mobilization in the chamber, four-way billiards… The common base, as Michel Barnier calls it, cannot organize itself.
“We are a minority and it shows”
Case study this Monday on very high rents. Although the right and the macro-granddaughter were already reluctant to vote for an exceptional contribution for the richest, despite Michel Barnier’s request, this is a lasting tax for the richest that was adopted on Monday night.
It must be said that the right did the minimum service: only 8 deputies were present to vote against, while its troops have 44 elected officials. The same happens with the Renaissance, with only a third of the parliamentarians present in the chamber. As for Modem, only a handful of elected officials were present.
“We have been in a minority in the Assembly since the last legislative elections and it shows,” acknowledges the Renaissance deputy Charles Rodwell, close to Gérald Darmanin, while denouncing “an unnatural agreement between the LFI and the RN” on certain votes.
“There’s a lot of running in the hallways right now.”
If the left and the RN sometimes vote hand in hand on certain texts, the same goes for the Macronists. Several amendments presented by the left to increase taxes on capital were rejected by Renaissance and LR with the votes of Marine Le Pen’s deputies.
However, on paper, the government coalition has enough to protect its back. There are 211 deputies from Horizontes, Renacimiento, Modem and LR, 19 more than the left.
“The central bloc has been less present in recent years, but decisions must be made in terms of parliamentary mobilization. There were also important debates in the Social Affairs Commission,” analyzes a ministerial advisor.
The National Assembly’s agenda means that deputies debate the budget at the same time in the chamber and in the social security budget committee, forcing them to run from one to the other. “Right now we run through the corridors a lot,” summarizes a parliamentary assistant.
“No one really wants to get their shirt wet.”
Without counting on the overmobilization of the left that wants to achieve political victories. There is no doubt that the NFP would have returned to Matignon with Lucie Castets so as not to score points during the debates.
“It is true, but we are not very present in the chamber and that, of course, is seen at the time of voting. Nobody really wants to get their shirt wet for a Prime Minister who is not going to last,” admits however a Macronist deputy. . .
In the presidential field we are still struggling to digest the increase in taxes for the most profitable companies and the participation in what Michel Barnier calls “the national effort” of the richest.
“A little disappointed”
It must also be said that the prospect of a 49.3 that allows the budget to be approved without a vote does not encourage people to sit in the chamber, especially since this constitutional cartridge allows the government to retain the amendments it wishes.
“All this generates a lot of frustration and, sometimes, also a bit of disempowerment. Sometimes we feel a little disappointed,” laments LR deputy Véronique Louwagie.
But that’s not the only thing that bothers some in the common base. The relations with Matignon are especially highlighted.
“We don’t have a lot of exchanges, we don’t have a lot of comments on our amendments, that doesn’t make you want to come and sit down on a Monday night at 11:50 p.m.,” bluntly. summarizes a Macronist elected official.
“It’s not an absolute agreement, that’s for sure. We wonder when Matignon will return to you,” criticizes Philippe Vigier, modern deputy and former minister of Élisabeth Borne.
“A good trip to Barnier”
However, the head of Government has added fuel to the fire since he criticized Gabriel Attal for his actions after his general policy speech at the end of September.
Lunch with the head of the Macronist deputies on Monday, cocktail at the Ministry of Relations with Parliament with all the political tendencies of the government coalition a few hours later… The head of Government is doing his best to keep the machine running . .
“Everyone must make an effort. We do not come from the same political family, but we are obliged to get along. This is what our voters expect. Let’s at least try,” urges Renaissance deputy Denis Masséglia.
“Some are dedicated to monopolizing power and simply hope to give Barnier a good ride to overthrow him,” complains an LR deputy.
“The modem really broke down.”
To further add to the ambient gloom, the Renaissance’s historical ally, the Modem, plays its own role. With the example of the election of a new vice-president of the Assembly on Tuesday to replace Annie Genevard (LR), who has become Minister of Agriculture.
Instead of presenting a single candidate, the coalition divided its votes between Virginie Duby-Muller (LR), officially supported by Renaissance, and modem Christophe Blanchet. Finally, the environmentalist Jérémie Iordanoff was elected.
“The modem really did anything,” says Renaissance MP Charles Rodwell.
If Marc Fesneau’s deputies withdrew the candidacy of their candidate in the third round to name the new vice president, the maneuver was not enough for the right to be elected.
“We are not the shoehorn”
Conclusion: half of the positions of vice presidents of the Assembly therefore go to the NFP, a position as prestigious as it is important in the Bourbón Palace.
“Since the new mandate we have not held any important position. Obviously we are not happy with this,” says modern elected leader Philippe Vigier.
“We are the president’s historical allies. We see that Renaissance prefers to serve LR than us. This is not correct,” the centrist laments again. “We are paying the consequences of the Aurélie Trouvé sequence, which has not finished causing damage,” sighs a Macronist.
At the beginning of October, the absence of LR combined with the vote of one of them allowed the rebel Aurélie Trouvé to be elected as head of the economic affairs commission instead of the Macronist Stéphane Travert, much to Gabriel’s displeasure. Total.
“The truth is that the slightest division between us gives a point to the left and that is not Michel Barnier’s fault,” analyzes a Macronist deputy, judging that the coalition is “increasingly less natural.”
Enough to open the door to support from the common base for a motion of no confidence against the government? A social democratic collective launched this Wednesday afternoon includes several former Macronists who have already explained that they are considering it, but also elected officials from the Renaissance, such as the former Minister of Agriculture Stéphane Travert.
“The budget forces us to play more or less together out of responsibility towards the country. Afterwards we do not promise anything,” says a modern deputy, seeming to summarize the spirit of the common base, only 7 weeks after the arrival of Michel Barnier. in Matignon.
Source: BFM TV
