French right divided over need for ‘Europe-style’ coalition

French President Emmanuel Macron needs the right-wing Les Républicains (LR) party to form a central coalition in the National Assembly, but the party remains sharply divided.

While Macron failed to win a majority in the National Assembly in the final round of snap parliamentary elections on 7 July (143 MPs), he hopes to win over the liberal right, which plays a pivotal role despite holding 39 seats (out of 577).

Overall, he aims to obtain an absolute majority ranging from the socialist left to the liberal right, excluding the Rassemblement National (RN). 

Some Republican leaders, such as Laurent Wauquiez, the new leader of the LR group in the National Assembly, have already confirmed that they would be in favour of forming such an alliance, but most party members say they are opposed to it.

“For us, there will be no coalition or compromise”, told Mr Wauquiez Le Monde on Wednesday.

“Do you see me governing with men and women from the left? We don’t agree on anything”, Bruneau Retailleau, leader of the party’s group in the Senate, also told LCI on Tuesday morning.

They also want to distance themselves from Macron on economic issues, especially debt, security, and immigration.

But the pressure comes from all sides, starting with Emmanuel Macron, who on Wednesday (10 July), in an open letter, called on “all political forces that believe in republican institutions, the rule of law, parliamentarianism, a European orientation and the defence of French independence to engage in sincere dialogue”.

A few leading LR members have approached Macron, mainly to prevent the left, particularly Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise from governing.

It’s the case with the President of the Hauts-de-France region, Xavier Bertrand, who has called for a “government of national emergency” with Macron, while the Senate President Gérard Larcher has negotiated with the head of state for several days.

European pressure

While compromise is not in the DNA of the French right – and more generally in the national political tradition – the European right, the European People’s Party (EPP), is calling for such a coalition.

“We need a strong democratic force with Les Républicains giving a real alternative to putting France back on its feet,” said EPP president Manfred Weber on X, the day after the elections.

For the German leader of the European right, an alliance is justified by the fight against “the far left & far right anti-EU rhetoric,” about which he is “very worried.”

“The challenge now is to manage a tripartite country”, stressed his Portuguese colleague Lídia Pereira, MEP and vice-president of the EPP, who envisages her French colleagues joining such a coalition.

The LR differs from other members of its European political family on several levels: politically, on certain fundamental issues such as free trade agreements—which it opposes, unlike its European counterparts—and on issues of representation.

They were among the few delegations to oppose Ursula von der Leyen’s candidacy for a second mandate as European Commission president.

For the moment, it is impossible to know whether the French right will line up behind Macron and under what conditions. A “legislative pact” on certain issues dear to the Republicans, such as security, finance and the economy, could be concluded.

Meanwhile, Ursula von der Leyen is due to be elected by the European Parliament on 18 July, the same day that French MPs will elect their president and clarify their alliances. LR has a week to decide whether to join a ‘Europe-style’ coalition.

[Edited by Daniel Eck/Alice Taylor]

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