Left-wing parties meet Macron, staying united publicly despite Socialists’ divisions – Technologist

The left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) alliance’s chosen candidate for prime minister, Lucie Castets, will finally meet Emmanuel Macron. At the Elysée Palace on Friday, August 23, the director of financial affairs at Paris City Hall, neither an elected official nor a party leader, will be at the heart of discussions between the left-wing parties and the president. It was the wish of the NFP and its party leaders for her to be there, at their side, when Macron invited them. “We’re going to let Lucie Castets speak and represent us, and say what measures need to be implemented quickly,” said Communist leader Fabien Roussel.

The Elysée is careful to point out that Castets has not been specifically invited but she will be received “in a constructive, republican and open spirit.” The meeting is the first in a series between Macron and the heads of parties and parliamentary groups, which should enable him to appoint a successor to the resigning prime minister, Gabriel Attal.

The head of the Green party, Marine Tondelier, has few illusions about the president’s ability to listen to the left. “These consultations have always been presented as major communication exercises,” said Tondelier, who was present at the meetings between Macron and party leaders in 2023 in Saint-Denis, which had the goal of bringing about a political compromise, and in March at the Elysée, to discuss the war in Ukraine. The NFP has nevertheless chosen to accept the invitation, considering it a positive signal that it will be the first bloc to meet with Macron, and wilfully ignoring the Elysée when it repeats in no uncertain terms that Castets will not be chosen to form a government. “I don’t think Emmanuel Macron has a better plan. Our majority is the most consistent and solid,” asserted Tondelier.

Left hopes for more collaborative working method

Castets, for her part, is trying to give the president some assurances. “We will say that we are ready to work, that we are serious and united,” she told the newspaper Libération on August 20, adding that she is ready to “take steps toward others.” It’s a path of compromise that the radical left La France Insoumise (LFI) party seems reluctant to take. Speaking on France Inter radio on August 21, the head of LFI’s parliamentary group, Mathilde Panot, reiterated her desire to respect “the pledge made to voters around [the policy] platform.”

This summer, the left-wing parties organized “regular meetings,” and on August 12 sent a letter to the leaders of groups in the Assemblée and Sénat, proposing a new, more collaborative working method, such as sharing the parliamentary agenda. At the same time, some Socialists have begun informal discussions with the left wing of the presidential camp.

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