French left at loggerheads over the choice of new prime minister

3 months ago 17

The left-wing parties of the New Popular Front (NFP), whose ad-hoc coalition managed to beat the far-right Rassemblement national (RN) in the snap legislative elections, are now at loggerheads over the name of a new prime minister.

More than a week after the second round of legislative elections on 7 July, where NFP came out on top but without an absolute majority, France’s political future remains in limbo.

Monday (15 July) evening, the Socialist Party (PS/S&D), the Greens (Greens/EFA), and the Communist Party (PC/The Left) agreed to put forward a name from “civil society” for the role of prime minister, that of the economist Laurence Tubiana, former ambassador for the COP21 negotiations in Paris in 2015.

This option was dismissed by several elected members of left-wing La France insoumise (LFI/The Left), who denounced it as a “Macron-compatible” candidacy, pointing out that since the start of President Emmanuel Macron’s mandate in 2017, Tubiana has often been offered to take up a ministerial post.

The NFP parties, which managed to put aside their differences within hours after Macron dissolved the parliament on 9 June to form a coalition against the RN, are now closer than ever to breaking up.

On Monday, LFI’s coordinator Manuel Bompard denounced the “systematic opposition” of the Socialist Party (PS) to the proposals of the other coalition members, admitting that the negotiations were for the moment “facing a deadlock”.

Over the weekend, the name of Réunion island’s president, Huguette Bello, had been put forward by the Communist Party (PC). PS, however, came out against it, deeming the candidate “too radical” and “too close to LFI”, Mediapart reported.

Emboldened by their good results in the European and legislative elections, the Socialists are seeking to regain the leadership of the French left, and some of its members could be open to building a majority in the National Assembly with the left wing of Macron’s Renaissance (Renew) party.

On the other hand, LFI leaders insist that they want to apply the NFP’s programme without compromise, even if it means governing “by decree, by referendum, or finding a majority in the National Assembly”, as Val-d’Oise MP Paul Vannier (LFI) explained to Le Monde.

On Monday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the historic leader of LFI, called for “a single candidacy for the presidency of the National Assembly” before resuming any discussion on the choice of a prime minister.

There are some important deadlines this week, with the election of the National Assembly’s president and the official declaration of each political group’s MPs on 18 July, followed by the forming of standing committees on 20 July.

In a statement, LFI also called for “massive participation in all the trade unions’ initiatives for Thursday”, to denounce what they called Macron’s “coup de force”, while some members of the CGT – the Confédération Générale du Travail, France’s largest trade union – have called for demonstrations outside the parliament building in Paris.

In a letter to the French people on 10 July, Macron asked the “political forces that recognise themselves in the republican institutions” to “build a solid majority”, adding that he would appoint a new prime minister once the parties had reached “compromises”.

The French left took it as a denial of democracy, as it is customary for the prime minister to be a member of the party or coalition that won the legislative elections. But for this, they must find a candidate who can muster unanimous support of all coalition members.

[Edited by Anna Martino/Zoran Radosavljevic]