French president Emmanuel Macron plots to keep a pro-boss government

The left wing LFI party has announced protests ‘against Emmanuel Macron’s coup’ on Saturday

Marching against racism in Paris on 14 July

By Charlie Kimber
Wednesday 28 August 2024

SOCUALIST WORKER Issue 2292

The neoliberal French president Emmanuel Macron has detonated another deep crisis. He’s bulldozed aside democracy and refused to name a government led by the left wing New Popular Front (NPF) coalition.

The NPF won the most seats in the July parliamentary elections. But Macron insists on an openly pro-boss government—even if people didn’t vote for one.

The French constitution does not spell out that the president must appoint a prime minister from the group that won most MPs. But previously this has always happened.

To give himself cover, Macron held talks with leaders of the fascist National Rally party. They said that they would immediately call a no confidence vote against any leftist prime minister.

But Macron could have ordered his MPs not to support such a vote against the NPF prime ministerial candidate, Lucie Castets.

Manuel Bompard, national coordinator of the LFI left party, which is part of the NPF, called Macron’s actions an “anti-democratic coup”. LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said his party would put forward a motion to remove the president. But this requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament, and is unlikely to go through.

The French media now speculate that Macon might come up with some corporate figure as prime minister. These include Renault chair Jean-Dominque Senard and Pascal Demurger, head of insurance company Maif.

The French ruling class is unsure how to proceed. Assembling a stable political coalition to implement austerity is difficult, but it can’t allow the uncertainty to continue.

The NPF is also caught in the logic of its electoral pact with Macron. It did a deal at the elections in July to help his candidates win in many constituencies. Now the NPF leaders bleat as Macron carries through his wholly-predictable policies.

Castets is a smooth technocrat close to the Socialist Party—the most right wing element of the NPF. The idea of putting her forward was to seem “reasonable” and not upset “moderate” parties.

But Macron won’t support even the mildest left programme. He wants money for the military, not welfare or public services. And he promised France’s bosses a war on workers’ living standards and rights.

The Le Monde newspaper reports, “For Emmanuel Macron and his people, it is simply unthinkable to appoint a government that would call into question the ‘mother of all reforms’, that of pensions”.

Pushing aside that roadblock requires struggle, not parliamentary manoeuvres. LFI now “proposes that marches for the respect of democracy take place”. There must be mass mobilisation., and pressure on the union leaders to call walkouts.

But the elections were on 7 July. Melenchon could have called for marches and strikes immediately afterwards. Instead, he allowed a “truce” for the Olympic Games and left Macron to proceed with meandering talks.

Melenchon then retreated in the face of Macron’s intransigence and asked him to accept a Castets government with no LFI ministers.

All of this imprisons the left inside barren electoral combinations and leads away from militant mobilisations.