The presidential camp is being tested by its own disunity

The watchword is clear and the posture combative. It is about warding off the impasse that threatens the government. During the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, September 3, the President of the Republic asked the members and supporters of the executive to "take action" and of "pedagogy" before the vote of confidence on September 8, which could lead to the fall of Prime Minister François Bayrou.

Although he had not convened the leaders of the central bloc for many months, Emmanuel Macron had gathered at the Élysée Palace the day before, Edouard Philippe (Horizons), Gabriel Attal (Renaissance) and François Bayrou himself (MoDem), during a lunch organized at the last minute, to hammer home to them the need to unite in the face of the political and budgetary crisis threatening the country, and to urge them to find solutions with the socialists. He even associated for the first time Bruno Retailleau, president of the Republicans (LR) party, with whom his camp has formed a government alliance. for a year, an alliance he wishes to maintain.

But François Bayrou's strategic choice is confusing even his own troops, weakening a central bloc already divided by several electoral setbacks. In 2022, the Macronists and their allies lost their absolute majority in the National Assembly. In 2024, the dissolution of the National Assembly and the early legislative elections weakened them even further. All of this has favored the autonomy of each of the groups in the Assembly, with, as a corollary, their dispersion. Thus, no formal coordination within an intergroup to decide on a common parliamentary strategy has ever emerged, despite some attempts.

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