"So much the better if Wauquiez doesn't censor us": Can Olivier Faure land at Matignon?

As expected, the meeting this Thursday morning at Matignon between the Socialists and Prime Minister François Bayrou was cut short. The Socialist Party had in any case repeated in recent days that the decision to censure the mayor of Pau was "irrevocable." Especially since the head of government made no concessions to the Socialists and dismissed their budget proposals.

All minds are now focused on the post-François Bayrou era. Olivier Faure would love to be at Matignon and is multiplying his offers of service. The Socialist Party wants to appear as a party of government, with the idea that it is up to them to take back the keys. "We must demonstrate that we are on a path to stability," a Socialist official explained to RMC . In short: prove that a left-wing Prime Minister would not be immediately censored.

To this end, the party with the rose presented its counter-budget last Sunday, with the goal of reducing the deficit by more than 21 billion, half of what François Bayrou is aiming for. However, the Socialists are out of the question of entering a government led by Bruno Retailleau, nor of supporting a Macronist Prime Minister, not even Éric Lombard, despite being a friend of Olivier Faure and once a Socialist. "He is behind François Bayrou's budget proposal," emphasizes a left-wing leader—the better to dismiss him.

So, after the predicted fall of François Bayrou, is there a way to see a Socialist at Matignon? Olivier Faure repeatedly appealed to the head of state, declaring himself "at his disposal" on Tuesday on LCI. "Dismaying," was the immediate reaction of the leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

On the right, the president of the LR deputies in the National Assembly, Laurent Wauquiez, assured this Thursday on RMC-BFMTV that he would not censure a socialist government, nor an RN government. "We are not among those who bring down governments in this country, quite simply (...) because I think that instability is catastrophic for the country," claimed the deputy from Haute-Loire. "So much the better if Wauquiez does not censor us," reacted Olivier Faure to the exit from Matignon.

Except that the president of LR, Bruno Retailleau - also Minister of the Interior - disavowed his rival by replying to X that "if a socialist government were to pursue a policy contrary to the interests of France, the duty of the right would be to prevent it." "If LR agreed to enter the government, it was precisely to prevent the left from accessing power," he recalled.

"The only solution is true cohabitation with a government that would govern without Article 49.3, taking into account parliamentary balances," argues Olivier Faure in Le Parisien . But according to him, the President of the Republic is not ready to appoint a socialist, despite the failures of Michel Barnier (LR) and the announced failure of François Bayrou (MoDem). "He will never appoint us. We continue on our path," he believes his close associates know. Even if Emmanuel Macron urges his camp to work with the socialists.

MEP Raphaël Glucksmann , who also wants a "left-wing personality" at Matignon, warned this Thursday: "The personality who has to do a very thankless job" as Prime Minister without a parliamentary majority, "must not be suspected of having ambitions for the future because otherwise, the political forces will a priori refuse to give him gifts anyway."

Former President François Hollande, for his part, called for a "compromise," conceding that if there were a left-wing Prime Minister, it would not be the NFP program that would be implemented, but neither the policies of François Bayrou and his "unfair" budget plan.

The Socialist Party seems to be back in the center of the game and is currently showing intransigence behind the scenes, with some half-heartedly admitting that on the evening of September 8, concessions will have to be made.