LaREM’s dangerous links with the RN

This is a case on which medicine should look with the greatest attention. That, quite terrifying, of the sudden collective amnesia that strikes Macronie. Ten weeks ago, during the inter-rounds of the presidential election, his voters and those on the left had » common values ​​ », says former LREM president of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand. So much so that the tenors of the presidential majority counted on the sympathizers FI, EELV, PCF and PS to block the extreme right of Marine Le Pen. What many did by slipping, reluctantly, a Macron ballot into the ballot box. But, up to the highest peak of the institutions of this country, no one seems to remember this not so distant period. Now that the President of the Republic no longer has a sufficient number of deputies to apply his program of social and environmental damage, he is looking for a way to untie his hands. Among the options on the table is that of a government of national unity. A configuration that Emmanuel Macron discussed with Marine Le Pen, as she herself confirmed. After a series of consultations, the President of the Republic was to speak Wednesday at 8 p.m. during a speech from the Elysée. But in the time that separated this intervention from the second round, he let his people reach out to the National Rally.

On Sunday, the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti opened the ball, addressing an RN MEP: “It is actually in the National Assembly that we will see and that our compatriots will see how we will try to move forward together. » Since then, the calls of the foot have continued at a steady pace. The deputy of Hauts-de-Seine Céline Calvez continued the sad anthology, considering that “when we need to have a majority, and if it’s good for the French, in fact, we’ll get those votes”. Before slowly backpedaling, saying you don’t want to do “no compromise towards the RN, with which (she) does not share any value”, while calling on the opposition to « take responsibility « . In this, she is joined by Barbara Pompili, candidate Together! declared for the perch of the National Assembly, which wants “discuss with everyone”.

Consider a case-by-case agreement with the RN

“Why would we discuss less with the RN than with the FI? » wonders the deputy of Paris Sylvain Maillard, as if the left and the extreme right were cut from the same wood. And to add: “Sometimes the RN can have positions that lead it to vote on texts. It is the FI that has always voted against us. » Modem MP Richard Ramos did not » no problem « to consider a case-by-case agreement with the RN. In short, Macronie chooses its opposition which it deems the most constructive. Dissonant voices are rare, and they are not heard very loudly. This is the case of Olivier Véran, Minister for Relations with Parliament, who refuses that “the majority depends on the votes of the RN”.

A position that is not enough to reassure the different components of the Nupes in the face of the ambient confusion. “How can they dare put such a trait of equality between us when we have nothing in common? indignantly rebellious parliamentarian Hendrik Davi. Macron rolls out a red carpet for the normalization of the RN. » The first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, says to himself « disgusted by all these people who participate with ardor in the trivialization of the far right », in the forefront of which « the executive, who dismissed RN and Nupes back to back ». “Last week, it was the Republican barrage on a case-by-case basis. This week, it’s the alliance with the RN on a case-by-case basis. Next week is Marine Le Pen at Matignon? »also castigates PCF spokesman Ian Brossat.

But this strategy is not just a panic reaction from a camp cornered by the results of the legislative elections which deprived it of an absolute majority. In reality, it is part of a long march where the demonization called for by Marine Le Pen becomes, step by step, trivialization and even normalization. And the presidential clan is far from being a stranger to it. Emmanuel Macron, on the eve of his first five-year term, presented himself as « a bulwark to a party that carries hatred, exclusion and withdrawal » . But it was above all a question of staging a duel, a new split « progressives » against « nationalists » , to better exclude any alternative, in particular from the left. Worse, Macronie has continued to fuel confusion around the values ​​of the Republic and to roll out the red carpet to the identity obsessions of the far right. Until this surreal scene from February 2021 where the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin comes to find too » soft « the boss of the RN in an escalation of stigmatizations where he reproaches, on the set of France 2, to Marine Le Pen of say “that Islam is not even a problem” (sic). “The idea of ​​Islamo-leftism, reserved for the marginal fringes of the extreme right in many countries, was taken up by Blanquer, Vidal, Darmanin. And there are all the laws – asylum-immigration, separatism, global security – which have gone far in the direction advocated by the far right,” adds sociologist Ugo Palheta.

A losing game

Far from pulling the rug out from under him, it is on the contrary the spectrum of the acceptable that is broadened. Water at the Marine Le Pen mill. Because “the challenge of the RN, which believes that its protest base is acquired, is to grab respectability to conquer ever larger fringes of the right-wing electorate”, analyzes the far-right specialist.

On the contrary, Macronie has endeavored to systematically send the left out of the field of the Republic. A demonization of which the legislative campaign signed the apotheosis. The president contributing to it in person with his speech a few days before the second round from the tarmac at Orly: “No voice must be missing from the Republic! » he had launched. His Prime Minister sang the same verse, sending back to back left and extreme right. “It is our values ​​that are at stake, freedom, equality, fraternity and secularism. (…) In the face of extremes, we will not yield anything”, dropped Élisabeth Borne on the evening of the first round.

And the sleight of hand, although hackneyed and most dangerous, is used again. This time however, the logic is reversed, by the president of the Modem in particular, who worked to defend « national unity » on France Inter, Wednesday morning. « We must take into account the composition of the National Assembly, try to find personalities who can carry part of the message of the majority and the sensitivities (results of the ballot – editor’s note) and form a government”, he estimated without explicitly closing the door to the far right despite reminders from journalists. Behind the maneuvers of François Bayrou, the strategy quickly becomes clear: a government “with or without nupes? They will say no. With or without the RN? They will say no. With or without party devices? They will say no. » For the presidential camp, it is indeed a question of transferring the responsibility for « ungovernability » to the oppositions, whatever they are, even if it means trivializing the RN in passing.

LR defector and candidate for the presidency of the Assembly, Éric Woerth went even further. “The rebels obviously have in mind to carry out tax audits. What I did not hear at the National Rally”, the MP said of chairing the key finance committee. « We don’t choose our opposition, we fight it », for his part, considers Roland Lescure, another LaREM contender at the Perchoir. On this subject, Éric Woerth is more on the same wavelength as certain figures of his former party. Starting with the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, who, interpreting the rules of the Assembly in his own way, judges that this presidency » should come back” at the RN.

« It’s not just a dangerous game, measures Ugo Palheta.It’s a losing game that only benefits the far right in the medium and long term. »Another ravage of liberal short-termism with Macron sauce.