Macron goes straight ahead no early vote or referendum on

Macron goes straight ahead: no early vote or referendum on pensions. Marine Le Pen seeks revenge

by Stefano Montefiori

Macron announced on television when he was 13 that he had no intention of dissolving parliament, reshaping the government or holding a referendum. Le Pen wants to become the leader in harmony with the people

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
PARIS – After days of silence, Emmanuel Macron will address the French on Wednesday by being interviewed on the news at 1 p.m. on Tf1 and France2 with unified networks. At a meeting at the Elysée today, he would have already told his ministers that he had no intention of dissolving parliament, re-forming the government or holding a referendum. I will therefore only try to limit the damage to our image after risking the collapse of the executive on Monday evening.

Among the many spectators and among the most attentive will be Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Rassemblement national, who is trying to assert herself as a credible alternative to the President in these hours of political and social chaos in France.

Le Pen would have hoped for the three hypotheses just dismissed by the President: Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne could not stay, he repeated several times, and yesterday he again called on Macron to call a referendum so that the French could express themselves clearly on pension reform. She was also ready in case early elections should be held. Hypothesis that would have paved the way for a further advance of the Rassemblement national, already 88 deputies strong.

Marine Le Pen’s strategy has been smart without showing off in recent months. She obviously opposed the reform, which she like many others defined as unjust and unbalanced to the detriment of the middle and popular classes, but she left the street demonstrations to left-wing opponents and the unions. Partly because it was forced by the party’s history and the apparent impossibility of organizing demonstrations alongside the CGT (the most radical union) or Nupes, the left-wing coalition. Also because it suits her: she leaves the chaos on the streets and the clashes with the police to the others, denounces the violence of left-wing extremists and the Black Block and tries to cultivate her law-and-order profile Positioned herself as a political leader waging her struggle in the designated place, namely the National Assembly.

This, too, is part of the ten-year lead-up to the seriousness and trivialization of the former National Front (composition since 2018), which now seems to have almost been achieved, also thanks to the 88 MPs and their calm behavior in the plenary hall (apart from the sensational incident last November, when the Lepenist MEP Grgoire de Fournas to return to Africa, it is not known whether it was the migrants or the black-skinned MEP Carlos Martens Bilongo speaking at the time).

Marine Le Pen is currently enjoying her revenge after involuntarily contributing to Emmanuel Macron’s presidential victory in 2022. Back then, many French confirmed Macron in the Elysée, not because they were convinced of his program and the pension reforms he proposed, but only to block the way for his opponent Marine Le Pen.

Today’s political crisis stems from this original sin: Macron has his sympathizers behind him and no one else, and his sympathizers do not have an absolute majority either in the country or in the National Assembly. Also thanks to the French institutional system, Macron won the presidential elections, his democratic legitimacy is full, but instead his political legitimacy is shaky, and we have seen it in the last few days, with the strikes, the streets full of protesters, the clashes with the armed forces of the Order and a government saved by just nine votes on Monday night.

Macron is on his way, at least for the time being he will not replace Prime Minister Borne, he will not hold referendums or early elections, he will face accusations of remaining locked in his ivory tower, not listening to the French. Marine Le Pen can instead try to position herself as a leader in tune with the people and, as always, is patiently waiting for time to play out on her side and is now openly preparing for a fourth time (in 2027). run to finally conquer the ‘Elisa.

Mar 21, 2023 (Modified Mar 21, 2023 | 3:25pm)