"We are independent," insists co-chair Matthieu Orphelin. Created on May 19, the new group in the Assembly, “Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity” (EDS), which brings together those who are disappointed with macronism, has withdrawn an absolute majority in La République en Marche. But the 17 deputies who make up the group have promised it: they would be "neither in the majority nor in the opposition" . For its first days, the small group has already distinguished itself by taking distance from the presidential movement.
Matthieu Orphelin was the first to set the tone. On BFM TV on May 20 (the day after the group was created), he indicated that he would "obviously support" Anne Hidalgo, the outgoing socialist mayor, against Agnès Buzyn, the LREM candidate, in the second round of the municipal elections in Paris. . A first and sharp disavowal. Renowned for his diplomacy, the member tempers today: “I was asked the question, it was difficult not to answer. I have deliberately not spoken again on the subject since " , underlines Orphelin, anxious not to place his group in competition with that of LREM. "This is one of the things I did not like," sighs a bitter macronist still bitter.
"I'm reliving a little!"
Another takes less tweezers: the member for Val-d'Oise, Aurélien Taché. Already within La République en Marche, the 30-year-old was carrying his leftist convictions loudly, even if he took the opposite view from his colleagues ... and became slightly bulky. For some, his departure from the presidential movement is a relief. For him, too, to hear him: "I relive a little! There is a first day side to the rest of the mandate ”. Within EDS, he took on the role of sniper without complex. He also called to vote - without hesitation - for Anne Hidalgo in Paris. He was also invited in the political-media soap opera that followed the words of Camélia Jordana. The singer assured last Saturday not to feel "safe in the face of a cop" on the set of the show "We are not lying". "Well done Camélia Jordana, but the price to pay will be terrible ... You knew it. They will deny then reverse the burden of proof and once again, seek to pass the victims off as guilty ”, he congratulated him on Twitter, implicitly lecturing the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner. The latter also reacted to the sequence, but to denounce the artist's “false and shameful words” .
If he admits having written the tweet "a little hot" , and admits with hindsight that the singer's words were undoubtedly "a little excessive and clumsy", Aurélien Taché persists and signs. "The Minister of the Interior would do better to take care of what is going on in his institutions rather than taking it from a young woman of 27 years old," he said. Highlight of his break with LREM: Aurélien Taché participated last week in an online conference organized by EELV bringing together the whole left, except LFI. "Some believed that it was to prepare an alternative to Emmanuel Macron in 2022. No, it was to propose an alternative to the current policy and make proposals . " Shade.
"They only carry left totems"
Most LREM MEPs do not wish to react to the constitution of this new group and thus give it importance. "This is not our subject," eludes one of them. “The Republic on the move aimed to go beyond the right / left divide. The deputies of this new group have given up on it. They now only carry left totems, like the re-establishment of the ISF for example. There is no more thinking, ” regrets, however, the spokesperson for the macronist group, Sylvain Maillard. The Parisian deputy believes that some EDS members have seen fit to reposition themselves politically to secure their future in constituencies. "Most come from territories strongly anchored on the left," he notes.
Last episode: the majority vote against "Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity" - with the exception of Cédric Villani - Wednesday concerning the use of "StopCovid". The application, developed and defended by the government, should make it possible to trace people infected with the coronavirus to encourage them to isolate themselves. In the gallery, co-president Paula Forteza explained that her group refused to "legitimize, and therefore force, social acceptance of the use of this technology which digitizes our social interactions through a massive deployment driven by the state" .
Call to Macron
The group's deputies, however, collectively declare that they are not a new opposition group. The proof, they say, they congratulated "the historic plan" announced by Emmanuel Macron to save the automobile sector hit hard by the crisis. According to them, the head of state did not even go against them. Matthieu Orphelin even spoke with Emmanuel Macron in recent days. Officially to discuss the automotive plan. But unofficially ...