The summit between Emmanuel Macron and the party leaders ended Thursday, August 30 in the morning around 3 a.m., after twelve hours of debate. The exchanges, which took place behind closed doors from 3 p.m. Wednesday, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), were sequenced in three sessions: the international situation, the institutions and the “cohesion of the Nation”, this last part is supposed to address questions raised by the recent riots (school, authority, integration, immigration, inequalities, etc.).
At the end of the summit, Emmanuel Macron explained that he intended to “quickly” propose a “method” of work with “a more precise agenda”, without committing to possible referendums, reported a party leader and a source. close to another participant. He said he wanted to bring together the eleven party leaders represented in Parliament again in an “identical format” to these “Saint-Denis meetings”. A follow-up government seminar will be held on September 6.
Jordan Bardella, the leader of the National Rally (RN), was the first to appear before the media after the meeting. He spoke of “frank” exchanges, but “without conclusion for the moment”. The leader of the far-right party claimed to have told Emmanuel Macron “that the pension reform had obviously created a wedge between him and the French people” and that a referendum on immigration, which he is calling for, was the ” only effective measure”.
The representatives of the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) were the most severe. “We came, we saw and we were disappointed,” said environmentalist leader Marie Tondelier. Manuel Bompard, coordinator of La France insoumise (LFI), abounded, fearing “that the French will come out very disappointed with this meeting”. He denounced an interlocutor who is not “ready to hear” the proposals of the left.
The only satisfaction among the Nupes, the Head of State’s promise of “a salary conference”, according to Olivier Faure, the boss of the Socialist Party (PS), who however regretted having “held the candle during a date [a date] of the right with the right”. “We are far from the big night,” said the socialist again, who described a President of the Republic who “was engulfed in the proposals of the right”. Very courted by the presidential camp, Eric Ciotti, the leader of the Republicans (LR), did not comment on leaving.
“Gadgets” like the “Great Debate”
According to an executive from the presidential camp, the discussions on the international situation were “constructive”, and those on the institutions showed that the need for “modernization” to “engage citizens more” was “shared” by all. Until the end of the meeting, nothing had filtered on the content of the exchanges, and the vagueness persists on their possible outcome: the press was kept away and the participants had to part with their phones, which ‘they recovered only briefly during short breaks between sessions.
When they arrived at these “Saint-Denis meetings”, the opponents had expressed their skepticism. “The small combinations or the com plans would not be up to the situation,” warned Eric Ciotti. “The French want more security, less taxes and less immigration,” added the boss of LR.
Jordan Bardella told the press before the meeting that he saw it as “an opportunity to have a frank discussion” with Emmanuel Macron. While stressing that this “major political initiative” was in addition to several presidential “gadgets”, such as the “big debate” during the “yellow vests” crisis. The president of the RN had assured that he would not serve as “a crutch for the head of state”, but that he would “echo the millions of French people who want another policy to be carried out”, in particular on security and purchasing power.
“His left ear is failing”
“We are not fooled by the communication operation that the President of the Republic is putting in place”, had denounced for his part the boss of the PS, Olivier Faure, arriving grouped with his counterparts from Nupes. The left alliance was to present around fifteen common proposals, “without illusion but with determination”, said LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard.
All the leaders of the parties represented in Parliament had accepted the invitation. The leaders of the Nupes had initially decided to boycott the dinner, denouncing a “media staging”, before changing their minds. They deplored that the Head of State only spoke on the telephone prior to his initiative, in order to present the issues, with Jordan Bardella and Eric Ciotti.
“It feels like his right ear is working but his left ear is broken,” joked Olivier Faure. But Manuel Bompard and the number one communist, Fabien Roussel, admitted that Emmanuel Macron had tried to join them too, in vain.
The opposition parties presented proposals for referendums on their hobbyhorses: immigration on the right and the far right, pension reform on the Nupes side.