Released in the middle of the night from a 12-hour meeting with Emmanuel Macron, the numbers one of the opposition parties, both left and right, demanded Thursday morning “rapid announcements” from the Head of State to “translate concretely” this initiative.
The discussions behind closed doors ended at three o’clock in the morning, after a tour of the dial devoted to the international situation, the institutions and the “cohesion of the Nation”.
If no one slammed the door, the guests remain unsatisfied, like Eric Ciotti affirming on France 2 that “all this must now be translated concretely” and continuing to plead for a referendum on immigration.
“I don’t know what all this will lead to,” added the president of the Republicans, “for the time being not convinced” by the approach, even if he deemed the exercise “timely”.
On the contrary, Manuel Bompard found it “quite grotesque” to “spend 12 hours to have no serious answer, no measure, no concrete announcement”.
“It was frank, but it does not lead to anything at this stage”, regretted on France Info the coordinator of France Insoumise, deploring that Mr. Macron had “swept away with the back of his hand” the common proposals of the left for a price freeze, a pension referendum or a wage hike.
“A direct exchange but without conclusion. Communication instead of the decision”, lamented on the social network X the boss of the PS Olivier Faure, at the end of this “marathon of 12 hours”.
The president’s entourage, however, indicated that the principle of a social conference “on careers and branches below the minimum wage” had been “validated” in the evening.
“The door has not been closed on the issue of low wages below the minimum wage or working conditions,” government spokesman Olivier Véran confirmed on Franceinfo, referring to this social conference.
“If there is one, so much the better, I take”, reacted on communist RTL Fabien Roussel, who “did not hear” the term “conference” during this meeting, but considers that “if there has a door that opens, you put your foot in it, you push and then you chat”.
Before him, the president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, had mentioned “frank” debates but was “unable” to specify what they would lead to.
As for the idea of ??organizing a “preferendum”, a sort of referendum with multiple questions, mentioned Monday by Olivier Véran, it seems to have been defeated by the president.
Mr. Macron “told us that he did not know what it was, that it did not exist, that it was Olivier Véran’s idea but not his”, assured Eric Ciotti.
The presidential camp preferred to see the glass half full. Mr. Véran, thus welcomed an “unprecedented process” which “could well mark history”.
The boss of Renaissance Stéphane Séjourné, who does not “necessarily find in the reactions of each other neither the atmosphere nor the steps of this meeting”, sees in it “a new stage of appeasement in the political dialogue”, a- he explained to AFP.
The president of the Modem François Bayrou hailed him on LCI as a “very interesting, very original” event and explained that the Head of State had “accepted a major conference on our institutions”, including in particular the subjects of the referendum and proportional representation. .
“Everyone has already agreed to meet again on the same format, under the same conditions, for a next working session”, assured the Elysée, without advancing a date. “You have to strike the iron while it is hot”, simply indicated Mr. Véran. A follow-up government seminar next Wednesday is already scheduled.
Less enthusiastic, Mr. Bompard set one condition: that the Head of State “make announcements in the coming hours which show that he has taken into account the proposals that we have made”.
But “if it’s to have a long discussion again that doesn’t result in anything, I don’t see the point (of) spending more time there”, warned the Insoumis leader.
08/31/2023 11:55:22 – Saint-Denis (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
