Since the National Rally has its parliamentary group in the Assembly, it has the right to its “niche”: one day per year when each group has control over the agenda of the lower house, and can therefore try to make pass on his texts and ideas. This Thursday is his second since the legislative elections. The first had been a complete failure, with the RN being defeated on each of its texts. This time, Marine Le Pen’s party wants to highlight what it considers to be the “sectarianism” of its adversaries who, for many, have the principle of never voting for a text coming from the extreme right, regardless of whether. By presenting certain very consensual proposals, he hopes to break the “sanitary cordon” which still separates him from the desired political respectability.
This objective this time involves the presentation of a proposed law on endometriosis, which generally takes up a wish made by Clémentine Autain in January 2022, and voted unanimously by the Assembly at the time: to put the endometriosis on the list of long-term health insurance conditions. Which is not a matter of law, but of regulations: the government could have issued a simple decree on the subject a long time ago. This “cuckoo” strategy (basically, repeating the texts of others with a good chance of passing, like a cuckoo laying eggs in a nest that is not its own) disturbs the rest of the Hemicycle which, overall, has always having a hard time finding the right strategy when dealing with an RN. Both in the majority and on the left and the right, it is very difficult to know which foot to dance on.
In the majority
The scene is unprecedented: Tuesday afternoon, several deputies from Horizons (the party of Edouard Philippe) and MoDem applauded Marine Le Pen’s speech on the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. A few hours later, the Renaissance staff worked to make it clear that none of its deputies had participated in its applause. The illustration that faced with the National Rally, the presidential party and its partners are not necessarily aligned.
On the MoDem side, we believe that we must “look at the texts and study them”, in the words of the group’s president, Jean-Paul Mattei. The vice-president of the Assembly, Élodie Jacquier-Laforge, goes even further: “The RN deputies were elected like us, they have the same legitimacy as us. I fight their ideas but the French have chosen. In the group, we agree that the important thing is the substance. If the RN’s proposal helps speed things up, so much the better! » Standardization at high speed.
Ultimately, Horizons and the MoDem voted against the RN’s endometriosis bill (PPL) during examination in committee, considering that it was a step backwards compared to what already exists. But if it had been better said, why not? “It’s a false question,” reassures Erwan Balanant, MoDem deputy from Finistère. In fact, it never happens that we really have to ask ourselves the question of voting for an RN text. We see this clearly in all their amendments, which reveal the nauseating nature of their ideology, when it is not simply lazy by taking up the proposals of others. »
At Renaissance, the vote against ended up winning: “You should never do anything with the RN. They could have the best idea in the world that should not be voted for,” assures a member of parliament from the Ile-de-France region. But some wanted to avoid “a refusal on principle”. Considering that it was necessary to “respond on the merits”, the idea was to profoundly rewrite the text of the RN. “The problem is that we are falling into legislative co-production with the RN, and that’s not okay either,” explains a supporter of this position. The group asks a lot of questions on the subject. We don’t have the answers on how to do it, but no one does.”
To the left
Concerning the endometriosis PPL, environmentalists voted against it in committee, and the others oscillated between this position and non-participation. A risky non-participation: if there are not enough counters to the pros, well the text will pass. “The chances are still low,” say the Communists, for example. In short, the question of principle prevails.
It was much more complicated regarding the questioning of the vice-presidencies of the Assembly held by the RN. Every year at the start of the session, the key positions at the Palais-Bourbon come into play, and environmentalists wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to oust the two far-right vice-presidents. But no one in the Nupes followed: among the socialists for example, we say we are shocked by the two RN vice-presidencies but… we pass the ball back to the majority, who offered these two positions to the Lepénistes in June 2022.
“If the left had presented candidates, part of the majority, repulsed by the two RN vice-presidencies, could have voted for… It would have been war on all the positions, we would have lost a lot,” explains a senior member of the RN. the majority who say it covertly: “Thank you LFI! » Because rebellious France, fearing for its own vice-president (Caroline Fiat) but even more for the presidency of the finance committee strategy (Éric Coquerel), was against any change. According to our information, the settling of scores on the left was even “bleeding” at the conference of presidents between the rebellious Caroline Fiat and the president of the green group, Cyrielle Châtelain.
To the right
Is there still a “cordon sociale” between the Republicans and the National Rally? “We vote when it is useful in the interest of the French, there is no cordon santé around our ideas,” declared in any case on October 3 the president of the classic right group, Olivier Marleix. Understood: no reason for LR not to vote for texts that correspond to its program. Right-wing deputies could thus support this Thursday the RN’s proposed law on bone tests for unaccompanied minor migrants (in short, if a minor who we want to verify is under 18 years old refuses to submit to it, we will apply a “presumption of majority” and the law that goes with it). Problem is, bone tests are considered unreliable by most specialists, with the Human Rights League even considering them unconstitutional.
However, this position does not only make people happy. Particularly among elected officials deemed closer to the majority, like Alexandre Vincendet: “The RN sets a trap for us and our leaders jump in with both feet,” deplores the elected official from Rhône In Release. In the end, there should not really be a vote on these very, very right-wing texts: the majority and the left have enough cards in hand to torpedo them.