Blocages is too mild a word for the paralysis that has gripped the French political class since last Sunday’s election. It’s not just the tripartite division of the National Assembly that stands in the way of finding a prime minister. It’s not just the aloofness of the president, who, in his letter to the French, notes that what France needs is a new political culture while failing to observe that such a culture can’t be created over night. The real problem is that the unprecedented rapport de forces created by the election has revealed dozens of fissures and cracks within the parties that make up the parliament.
To begin with the New Popular Front, it’s hardly a surprise that it is having such a hard time agreeing on a prime minister to propose to the president. True to form, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is pursuing a strategy of “heightening the contradictions,” or, as he likes to say, tout conflictualiser. He has no interest in proposing a prime minister who might be able to propose a credible alliance with the Macronistes in order to form a government that could survive its first confidence vote. Surprisingly he was handed a cudgel by, of all people, Fabien Roussel, his sworn enemy, who proposed the improbable name of Huguette Bello, the governor of La Réunion, and a former follower of Mélenchon. Whatever Mme Bello’s undoubted qualities, I doubt that they had much to do with the warm embrace with which Mélenchon immediately greeted this proposal, which allows him to say, “You see, I was willing to compromise, it’s that reactionary Socialist Faure who is the real egoist here in insisting that ‘he alone can do it.'” In any case, the Socialists haven’t yet caved, so we’ll see if Mélenchon’s fallback position is himself or one of his mini-me’s (Bompard, Guetté, or Panot) or yet another farfelu stalking horse.
Meanwhile, the Macronistes have split every which way. Attal has been elected president of the Renaissance parliamentary group, despite the opposition of Darmanin, who is now searching for a consolation prize. Unlike Darmanin, Attal has signaled a willingness to form a coalition with other parties, provided that they meet his criteria for being admitted to the “republican arc–a position that may be taken as a prodrome of incipient realism. Philippe has long since gone his own way and doesn’t seem to care about forming a government in the here and now, since his eyes are riveted firmly on 2027, and a chaotic present may therefore serve his interests. Le Maire is still making deep cuts in the budget even though the government of which he is nominally a part has ostensibly resigned. And Sacha Houlié is trying to form a group of left Macronistes as a new social-democratic caucus to the right of the Socialists and outside the radioactive New Popular Front. Macron, in Washington for the NATO summit, helpfully sent word that he was dismayed by this disgraceful display of disunity among his routed and battered marcheurs, who haven’t really marched anywhere for a very long time and are now running for the exits, right, left, and center.
As for the newly baptized Droite républicaine, Laurent Wauquiez, once le poulain of the now-disgraced Eric Ciotti, has assumed the presidency of a drowning party in search of le radeau de la Méduse.
In other news, the RN is conducting its own internal purge. And Thomas Piketty, whose wife Julia Cagé is among the economic advisors of the New Popular Front, wrote this morning in Le Monde:
La France insoumise n’a cessé de vouloir imposer son hégémonie autoritaire à la gauche, à la façon du Parti socialiste d’autrefois, en pire, compte tenu du refus de toute procédure de vote de la part des dirigeants « insoumis ». Mais l’électorat de gauche n’est pas dupe : il sait bien que l’exercice du pouvoir exige avant tout de l’humilité, de la délibération et du travail collectif. Il est temps de répondre à cette aspiration.
I couldn’t agree more. Humility, deliberation, and collective effort seem in woefully short supply, however. Surprisingly, there is one ex-politician who seems to have taken the measure of the situation: Dominique de Villepin. But nobody is listening.