As a horse riding enthusiast, Gérard Larcher knows it well: it is better to have a slow but reliable horse, rather than a fiery but nervous thoroughbred. Since the Republican cadre left the Rambouillet forest for the Senate, its mount has only reared once, during the only left-wing presidency in the history of the institution (2011-2014). ). From 2008 to 2011, then from 2014, Gérard Larcher occupied the “plateau”, the seat of president of the upper house. Twelve years of presence in the shoes of the third person in the State, and a fifth re-election validated this Monday as a formality.
Behind the untouchable Alain Poher (twenty-four years of presidency), Gérard Larcher, 74, comfortably enters the history of the Senate with three additional years of lease. Enough to try to unlock the secrets of its longevity. “He has a very detailed knowledge of the Senate and its functioning, delivers 20 minutes Jean-François Husson (LR), member of the senatorial majority and rapporteur for the Marianne Fund. He wants to protect and enhance the Senate beyond a simple majority. »
“It’s not Ciotti, it’s not Wauquiez”
For the senator from Indre Frédérique Gerbaud (LR), also a member of the senatorial majority, Gérard Larcher seduces with “his working method, his proximity” and his “listening to all senators”. Quite unifying, “not closed” to working with everyone, “it is plastic enough to maintain itself without creating opposition”, judges, for his part, the environmentalist senator Thomas Dossus.
“He’s not Ciotti, he’s not Wauquiez, he spares the center and defends rurality on all sides. Some center-left senators are not unhappy that he is there,” confides to 20 minutes Michel Lascombe, specialist in constitutional law. According to the expert, it is precisely this somewhat lukewarm method which reveals the main limits of a Gérard Larcher who is “conservative, not in favor of changes which affect senatorial habits”.
And the former minister of Jacques Chirac also takes advantage of the relative anonymity of a good number of senators to take the spotlight and embody the institution to the general public. “He’s one of the only media senators. He has a good public side, a certain ease,” notes Michel Lascombe. “If we had asked the question in 2010, people might not have known who it was,” notes Thomas Dossus, who points out too much personification. His daily job is to make people think that he is the Senate. »
“The institution moves very little. He is part of the furniture”
On the majority side, we highlight the rise in power of a politician through
that of the institution, particularly in its power of control since the election of Emmanuel Macron (Benalla commissions, McKinsey, Marianne Fund, etc.). The second term of the President of the Republic with a fragmented National Assembly contrasts with a Senate which “takes up more space and is not hunched over its majority”, judge Jean-François Husson. A political context rather well digested by the President of the Senate. So much so that a crazy rumor sent him to Matignon, during discussions around the reshuffle last April.
The former veterinarian ultimately did not leave the upper house, and the recomposition of the Senate allowed him to refine his new roadmap: a “real cure of normative austerity” summarized by the formula “legislate less, legislate better” . Described by his supporters as “a man on the ground who knows the territories perfectly”, Gérard Larcher also wants to “strengthen the presence of senators” on the ground.
But at a time of renewal of the political class, of the non-cumulation of mandates, of which Gérard Larcher is also a fervent detractor, is it really reasonable to remain at the head of a parliamentary chamber for so long? Thomas Dossus responds: “He does not like people to say, as Lionel Jospin said, that the Senate is a democratic anomaly. But the institution moves very little. He is part of the furniture, he is the incarnation of it. »