How the left is preparing for the fall of the government

Will the Barnier government be overthrown during the coming week? This is the hope of the New Popular Front (NFP), which should table a motion of censure as of Monday, December 2, if the executive uses article 49.3 of the Constitution to have the financing bill adopted. Social security. In the meantime, left-wing elected officials already have their eyes fixed on the post-Barnier era. But the divisions between the socialists and the rebels, already visible on the question of government censorship, remain palpable.

The path of the republican arc

There are those who still believe in the parliamentary route, like the president of the socialist group Boris Vallaud. This proposes a dialogue between all the parties of the Republican arc – excluding the National Rally – to “raise the question of the conditions for non-censorship”. It would be a question of finding a solution outside the framework of the New Popular Front, involving necessary compromises.

“The left bloc must show itself more responsible. The Republican arc must exist, or it will be the victory of the RN, there is no alternativepredicts Arthur Delaporte, spokesperson for the PS group in the National Assembly. We can still come up with a minimal project by starting from what was already established last summer by our common base. » A speech also delivered by the PS deputy for Eure Philippe Brun who pleads for a government of “center left”.

But these proposals were immediately criticized by La France insoumise (LFI), which criticizes the socialists for wanting to reach out to the presidential camp, by burying the NFP. “I don’t see how we could find these compromises cold turkey, without worrying about who governs. This seems unrealistic to me, comments Éric Coquerel, LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis and president of the finance committee of the National Assembly. The only solution in the event of censorship is for everyone to put pressure on Emmanuel Macron to force him to appoint an NFP government. »

A “common application”

A second camp, led by LFI, seems to be emerging with increasing strength: those for whom only the resignation of Emmanuel Macron can open up a desirable future. During a speech to activists in Paris, Friday November 29, Jean-Luc Mélenchon launched a call to “a joint application” in the event of an early presidential election… But only on the basis of his program.

“We understood that (…) the Communist Party no longer wants us, we have understood that the right of the Socialist Party no longer wants us and we refuse to go along with people who insult us along the way”insisted the leader of LFI. Words that made Olivier Faure, first secretary of the PS, jump. “I don’t really see why Jean-Luc Mélenchon would be the natural candidate today, or even why his program would be the one that would impose itself on everyone”he replied on RTL.

A call to the entire left

To try to go beyond these divisions, Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the Ecologists, and Lucie Castets, the candidate proposed by the NFP for Matignon last summer, published on Sunday December 1st an appeal to the entire left for “organize and build a common project”, with the launch of the site gagnons-ensemble.fr. “We do not have the luxury of divisions, nor that of improvisation. Every quarrel within our own camp is an offering to our adversaries.”they proclaim. These two female figures of the NFP plead for a “joint application” in the event of a presidential election, but “without placing this or that name as a prerequisite for collective work”.

Rémi Lefebvre, professor of political science at the University of Lille, sees in the opening of this debate a “new headache for the left”. “And especially for the socialists, who want to distance themselves from LFI. The whole challenge for them is to nominate a second, more moderate left-wing candidate, who would bring together the others and marginalize Jean-Luc Mélenchon, analyzes the author of Should we despair of the left? (Textual, 2022). Because at this stage, the only certainty we can have is that the rebellious leader will be a candidate, and will go all the way. »