“We have witnessed in the past an excess of passion. Now ... It goes too far the other way. It would surely be good to find the right balance, ”summarizes MP François Cormier-Bouligeon. “There was blind loyalty and trust. There is now a confidence to nurture perhaps more than before, "continues his counterpart Jean-Charles Colas-Roy. Between the President of the Republic and the Marchers of the Assembly, the hour of doubts succeeded the effusions of the beginning of the mandate.
While the Head of State is preparing to completely overhaul the Macronian apparatus and draw the lines for the end of his mandate, the deputies of En Marche! intend to have a say. At the risk, for some, to distance themselves further. We saw it recently, with the creation of two new independent groups which made this plethoric group lose its absolute majority in the National Assembly. Worse, the rumor evokes the creation of another group - the eleventh! -, supposed to embody the territories, and which could see the light of day after the municipal elections. So many signs interpreted as taking distance from the summit of the state. But how did we get there?
"The chef wants, so everyone wants, it's over!"
“MPs are not treated badly, they just aren't treated. It is not enough to organize a big mass once every six months, under the gold of the Elysée Palace to imagine that it is enough to maintain the link, "says one of them, speaking of" relationship distended since a few months "with this president" who prefers to take his phone to call Jean-Marie Bigard rather than talking with his own ". "Me, he never called me. I'm sure he doesn't even have my number, ”sighs another.
“The admiration is still there. But the arguments of authority work less and less. The proof, when Richard Ferrand pleads Tuesday for the unity in group meeting, by recalling that the division, it is the death , there are deputies to say: one heard well, but that does not work any more, “points out Colas-Roy. "The argument of saying the chef wants, so everyone wants, it's over!" "Approves another elected official who intends to assert the diversity of points of view within the group:" When there were around sixty parliamentarians who did not vote for the anti-breaker law, it was experienced as a crime against majesty. But no, it's not insulting to not always agree. "
But this discontent is not necessarily unanimous internally. "I have no moods," admits even the deputy of French abroad, Roland Lescure, a little annoyed by the little music of the moment. “I became a deputy to support a project which promised to put Europe at the heart of our policy, but also the renewal of practices and ideas. I was not disappointed on that side, "he defends.
A reception to calm the discontent
“Emmanuel Macron succeeded in overturning the table in 2017 with his audacity and his personality. We are all there thanks to him. But regardless of the support we owe the president, the majority cannot live as a monolithic bloc, ”said Hugues Renson, vice-president of the Assembly. “In three years, parliamentarians have worked on subjects, acquired expertise, defended points of view. That they take positions, sometimes express divergent opinions, it is rather healthy, it is the debate! This is how we get rich, ”pleads the man who has just launched, among the majority, a social and ecological current made up of 56 deputies.
On the side of the Elysee, we prefer at this stage to temper the moods. "The link is absolutely not broken, the president has never lost contact. He also regularly has the opportunity to interact with many parliamentarians, ”pleads his entourage. And if, in private, the Head of State actually recognizes that "it is turbulent at the moment", he believes however that "there is no subject of majority".
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The proof ? "All the important texts are voted," he swears, delivering his little analysis on the subject: "It is the bonus for those who do not agree and who are immediately invited to BFM. It reminds me, even if I didn't like the term, the slingers under the old presidency. Where are they today? "Macron notes, without however being deaf to demands. According to our information, a reception of deputies, to calm this discontent and trace with them the challenges that engage the majority until the end of the five-year term, is under consideration. It could take place in July. It remains to be seen whether the hug therapy operation, already used in the past, will work again.