“It’s a shipwreck.” Only the quote signed by an LR deputy summarizes the atmosphere in the ranks on the right, the day after 49.3 activated by Elisabeth Borne and a few days before a transversal motion of no confidence.
If none of the 61 deputies in the group signed it, to the great relief of Éric Ciotti, the difficulties are far from over. At the moment, at least 4 deputies want to vote to overthrow the government of Elisabeth Borne.
“Hard Living Together”
Enough to get past the heavyweights on the right who, from Bruno Retailleau to Gérard Larcher via Olivier Marleix, support retirement at 64 and above all to blow up the group.
“It is hard to tell ourselves that we could make people live together who say that a reform that wants people to work longer is bad. We’ve been saying it for years. Fine at the end ”, this is how an LR parliamentarian annoys.
Valérie Pécresse’s presidential program wanted to change the retirement age to 65 and the mostly right-wing Senate largely adopted the reform presented by Olivier Dussopt on first and second reading. But not enough to force the deputies to support him.
“We have 60 auto-entrepreneurs, each one at the service of their workshop and their own interests. It is not new but before it only worried a few deputies. There, now it is very divided ”, lamented a close friend of Olivier Marleix last week.
Indecision in the field of those close to Pradié
Which therefore pushes some to think of the post-Macron, who will not represent himself in 2027, and to raise his voice against Élisabeth Borne, who has put himself under pressure. The motion of no confidence “will be the vote of those who are in favor or against the reform,” the Prime Minister announced this Thursday afternoon on TF1.
Among the deputies who came out of nowhere and announced that they support the motion of no confidence are currently Maxime Minot, Pierre Cordier, Fabien Di Filippo and Ian Boccard.
In the ranks of Aurélien Pradié, who faced the government in long races, we are for the moment more circumspect.
“I haven’t decided yet,” explains Pierre-Henri Dumont, one of his lieutenants.
One weekend that could change everything
The same story on the side of Raphaël Schellenberger, who assures “at this point not to vote for him without being in a firm and definitive no” with BFMTV.com.
In your sights, next weekend. After several spontaneous demonstrations this Thursday in various cities in France and in Paris with 6,000 people, all in the context of continuing strikes in refineries and transport, these elected LRs are waiting to see if the protest movement changes shape.
Proof of the growing concern in the ranks of the executive: Gérald Darmanin sent a telegram this Thursday evening to all the prefects appealing for their “vigilance” and “full mobilization to guarantee the safety of all the elected officials of our Republic”.
“If we see that we are going towards a jacket of the strikers, that we see that everything is undone, we have no other choice”, deciphers a deputy who, however, supported the reform.
Animosity against Laurent Wauquiez
Some on the right are rewriting history and targeting… Laurent Wauquiez, who is no longer a deputy. The president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region paid lip service to the reform and barely pressured his lieutenants to wet their shirts.
“There is a theme. It would have been enough to call 3 or 4 deputies and that would have changed everything (for the reform to be voted on, ND). Her former understudy, Isabelle Valentin, said she did not support her. It’s still a problem,” says a member of the group.
If Éric Ciotti campaigned for the presidency of LR last winter, saying that his election would be a way of preparing for the landing of Laurent Wauquiez in the next presidential election, relations have become strained.
“Eric told Laurent that he had done it the other way around,” says another deputy.
Exclusion or leniency
While waiting to settle accounts in an upcoming board of directors -the last one was to take place last Monday but was finally postponed-, the fear of the split of the group is on everyone’s lips.
“At the next meeting of the group on Tuesday, we will see who voted in favor and we will draw the consequences,” said a party member.
This scenario is flatly ruled out by those close to Aurélien Pradié. However, the right already experienced 2 distinct groups in 2012 in the Assembly during the internal war between François Fillon and Jean-François Copé, before finally settling things.
“We have an important common base of values, but the decline of a program with technical measures is difficult. We will achieve it in dialogue with our party culture”, Raphaël Schellenberger wants to believe.
“Don’t pass for amateurs”
Mercy may well be on the agenda while the right is in deep trouble after 3 straight presidential losses.
“If we say that we have two irreconcilable rights, each one puts 2.5% on our side. By dividing ourselves in two, there will be no future for anyone”, analyzes a member of the movement.
“It all depends on the size of the votes for the vote of no confidence. If we have 5 guys that nobody knows, that’s one thing. If there are 15 with some names identified, we can’t afford to pass as amateurs.” , reports another parliamentarian.
One element, however, reassures almost all LR MPs: the fact that the overthrow of Elisabeth Borne’s government remains highly unlikely. To achieve this objective, 32 LR would have to vote on the motion of no confidence, a figure that seems difficult to gather for Monday.
Source: BFM TV
