There is no longer any doubt in anyone’s mind: François Bayrou will be overthrown on September 8th. By announcing a vote of confidence in the National Assembly that day, the Prime Minister hastened his fall. Opposition parties, from La France Insoumise to the National Rally, including the Socialist Party, have unanimously made it clear that they will seek to overthrow him.
Since then, party leadership has begun to plan for the post-Bayrou era. Speculation is rife. Dissolution of the Assembly, resignation of Emmanuel Macron, appointment of a new Prime Minister… The bets are off. Whatever scenario begins on September 8th, Marine Tondelier wants to be ready.
In a video posted online this Wednesday, August 27, the national secretary of the Ecologists reveals that she is “hard at work” preparing for what comes next. “The Ecologists have never shied away from their responsibilities,” she explains to the camera from her office in Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais). She reveals that she had convened a meeting of her party’s leadership a few hours earlier to begin preparing for a possible legislative election campaign.
“We are not afraid of dissolution; we are actively preparing for it,” she assures. Unlike the Socialists and the Insoumis, who are also preparing to return to the polls, but separately, she intends to revive the hopes inspired by the New Popular Front in June and July 2024. “While the Macronists are locked in their democratic impasse, and the National Rally is a threat to our country, we are still there, dear comrades. We must rise to the occasion,” she asserts. Then: “Yes, it’s going to be complicated. We never said it would be simple and comfortable. But I don’t see any other solution.” This laid the foundations for a new programmatic agreement if legislative elections were to be held soon.
The NFP was built as “a reflex.”
Marine Tondelier calls on “the left and environmental forces to work together” in preparation for the post-September 8 period and recalls that a year ago, in a context where the National Rally (RN) was on the verge of power, the NFP’s agreement had been “instinctive,” “a reflex.”
By the summer of 2024, the Green Party leader had emerged as an effective bridge between the left, successfully forging links between the two feuding brothers, the Socialist Party (PS) and the French Liberal Party (LFI). The press heralded her as a “revelation,” recalling that after the failed European election campaign, she had recouped her losses by tirelessly advocating for unity and warning of the danger posed by the National Front. A credo she has maintained ever since.
“A Prime Minister from the NFP”
While she swears to prepare for the possibility of a dissolution, Marine Tondelier nevertheless explains that she would prefer Emmanuel Macron to appoint a Prime Minister from the NFP, the force that came out on top on July 7, 2024. “We must tell Macron loud and clear that we expect him to appoint a Prime Minister from the NFP. We’ll find the majorities,” says the former parliamentary aide to Cécile Duflot. Because to “give the country a budget,” dissolution will serve no purpose. “It’s not the Assembly that is illegitimate, it’s the government,” she insists.
As for the impeachment procedure, which has been revived by La France Insoumise, Marine Tondelier is not formally opposed to it, but believes that this is not the right time to play this card. “If Macron refuses to appoint the NFP to Matignon, then yes, the question of his impeachment will arise.” Managing your partners is an art in itself.
