Urnas challenge Macron and charge left government

Sébastien Leconnu, Macron’s fourth a year ago, faces a threat of falling after refusing tax on fortunes and reverses social security reform

The political crisis that has settled in France is not a mere course accident or a parliamentary dysfunction. It is the clear and democratic expression of a popular will that, at the polls, constituted a national assembly where the left holds a decisive influence. President Emmanuel Macron’s stubbornness in ignoring this reality by imposing a right-wing agenda through a fragile prime minister is an attack on democracy and sovereign will of the French people. The current situation is not just a threat to the government of Sébastien Leconnu; It is a warning cry for France to finally have an executive aligned with the parliamentary majority that the population elected.

Leconnu’s appointment, Macron’s fourth minister in less than a year, represents persistence in an outdated and rejected political project. Its plan, which insists on an “irrational” and “stubborn” reduction in the public deficit, is the continuation of an austerity policy that penalizes the most vulnerable.

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By immediately rejecting the two central demands on the left – the creation of a major fortune tax and the suspension of pension reform that raised the age of reform to the age of 6 – the new prime minister showed that its government is nothing but an extension of macronism, devoid of any will for real commitment.

This obstinacy has a price: the country’s paralysis. The threat of a vote of distrust, articulated by the Socialist Party and its leader, Olivier Faure, is not an act of irresponsibility, but a legitimate exercise of parliamentary sovereignty. Faure made it clear: “If nothing changes, the result is already known: the government will be overthrown.”

This is not a radical posture; It is the logical consequence of a government that refuses to listen. The extreme political fragility, where Macron’s centrist alliance does not have a majority, is not a system defect, but a feature of working democracy. The executive must rule with Parliament, not against him.

The budget crisis is the symptom of a deeper disease: the total disconnection between the Elisha Palace and the reality experienced by the French. The pension reform, which caused massive protests, was a deep blow to social cohesion.

The refusal to reverse it, as the resistance to making the richest contribute fairly through a tax on the big fortunes, demonstrate to whom this government really works. While the population suffers from the cost of living, the government is concerned with protecting the interests of a privileged minority, deepening already unsustainable social inequalities.

The allegation that Leconnu needs an “uncomfortable alliance” with conservatives of Les Républicates to survive only proves how minority his support base is. A prime minister who depends on the neutrality of all sides not to fall is a prime minister who has no legitimacy to govern. The “precarious bamba rope” in which he walks is, in fact, the price to pay for refusing to negotiate in good faith with the left, which holds 66 chairs and represents an unavoidable force.

The solution to this impasse is not further weakening institutions with successive dissolutions and falls of government. The solution is democratic and obvious: the appointment of a prime minister who represents the will of the Legislative House.

The left, united around fair causes such as tax justice and the defense of the social protection system, is prepared to assume this responsibility. His requirement for “real concessions that demonstrate a real break with Macron’s policies” in the words of socialist Jérôme Guedj is the minimum for restoring confidence and allowing the country to advance.

France cannot remain hostage to a president who acts as if he has a majority that he does not have. The fifth republic was conceived for stability, but it is only possible when the government reflects the will of parliament.

The election of a leftist prime minister is not an option among others; It is a democratic necessity. It is respect for popular will expressed at the polls. It is the only way to end this unprecedented succession of crises and finally begin a governance that places the people and social justice at the center of their priorities. The time is to resist, and the socialists surrounding Macron are doing more than politics: they are defending their own democracy.

With information from Financial Times*