Elisabeth Borne now assured of staying at Matignon, the Prime Minister has chosen to go in search of her majority. For this, the former Minister of Labor has chosen to seek the support of the sizes of the majority directly on the ground, with a view to a parliamentary return which is always difficult to negotiate. She thus went to Le Havre to meet Édouard Philippe then to Pau at François Bayrou.
The Prime Minister, who has made gender equality a priority, will attend the arrival of the Tour de France women’s cyclist in the capital of Béarn before speaking with the mayor of the city. By meeting, successively in a few days, the bosses of the Horizons group and the MoDem, two “key partners” of the presidential camp, she intends above all “to approach the return to school in a united way”, we explain to Matignon.
The head of government, confirmed in her post last week, has also expressed her “pleasure” to exchange with them when there is “less pressure”, the pension crisis, the riots, then the debate on the police having revealed dissonances between the three components of the macronist camp. “When you are in a relative majority, you are obliged to have at least certainties in your majority,” notes political historian Jean Garrigues.
Because the fall is likely to be sporting in Parliament, with a very sensitive bill on immigration and budgetary texts for which Elisabeth Borne will have to resort again to 49.3.
“Back to school will probably not be easy,” she warned, arguing that only “the unity of the majority” can face “the excesses, the obstruction of La France insoumise” and the “pretending the National Rally”.
After a turbulent season in the Assembly for this “plural” majority, Elisabeth Borne is counting on the “sense of the collective” of the new leader of the Renaissance deputies Sylvain Maillard, who succeeds Aurore Bergé, who has become a minister and considered too divisive.
“Some errors were made on both sides but they were not decisive”, nuance Laurent Marcangeli, boss of the Horizons group, a cold weather with the Renaissance group.
The tour of Elisabeth Borne, who will also meet, on Monday July 31, the president of Renaissance, Stéphane Séjourné, has a scent of “emancipation” for the Prime Minister who “resumes her usual role as leader of the majority” that the president of the Republic has assumed for several years, underlines Jean Garrigues.
But securing the loyalty of these two great majority figures does not solve the problem of relative majority, whose “key to the solution lies more on the right”, he adds. Elisabeth Borne also discussed Thursday with the president of LR Éric Ciotti, according to the latter.
It is also for the head of government to put some balm after the friction caused by the reshuffle of July 20. François Bayrou would thus have intervened, in the name of political balance, to request the appointment of a new minister from his party to compensate for that, for a time envisaged, of Horizons deputy Frédéric Valletoux at the Ministry of Health, assures a parliamentary source, which vigorously denies the boss of the Modem.
Despite these tensions, none of these tenors opposed the renewal of Elisabeth Borne at Matignon. François Bayrou, who would have “loved” being Prime Minister but considers himself “out of the game” due to an upcoming trial in mid-October, had warned against a rapprochement of the executive with the right, on behalf of the “DNA” of Macronism. Aiming without saying so the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who coveted Matignon.
In Le Havre, Édouard Philippe, former head of government, alluded to the precarious lease of the current Prime Minister, and thanked her for her visit “as expected as hoped” which allows “to consider the future with trust “. Elisabeth Borne in turn praised the “very great qualities of a statesman” of her predecessor, after taking the time to announce several projects for her city.
But 2027 “isn’t a hot topic at all,” she added. Because the presidential ambitions of Édouard Philippe could in the future justify taking a distance which she would do well.
