2022 French legislatives

[parochial boy]

Is there a reason Biarritz has become much more popular compared to the Cote d'Azur for the rich and famous? For Anglophones, Nice, Cannes etc. are still the still bywords for luxurious resort towns.

Probably the best explanation is that it's a fashion effect, or something fairly similar to the gentrification you see in big cities.

As in, Biarritz has become the popular hang out spot for media figures, instagrammers, youtubers which has brought in the fahionable (ie hipster) restaurants and artsy types. Combined with the pretty countryside a broadly "positive"* regional identity that the Basque Country shares with eg Brittany, you see the effect you see.

That contrasts with the a Côte d'Azur that has all the problems that it has (eg the sprawl, which has led to the old villages and towns dying, which means a less active cultural life), but it has become sort of past it on the whole. Too cliché, too expensive - which means that the arty creative types can't afford it any more; which means that the cultural life - Cannes festival and all that - appear more and more like fossilised, bourgeoisified and uncool. Obviously it's still super luxurious and bling bling and all; but it's more like Provence is the world of ageing boomer actors and singers, whereas the Pays Basque is the world of influencers and internet celebrities.

*A popular meme is the idea that Bretons will take the Breton flag and get it out absolutely everywhere they go. A joke that is based on reality, if you watch the Tour de France in July you will see Breton flags absolutely everywhere, even when the race is taking place absolutely nowhere near Brittany. The Basque country doesn't have quite that reputation, but expect to see a wall of Basque flags during the pyrenean stages - which you won't see with, say, Alsace or Savoie flags even when the race passes through those region.

[Logical]

Another question:
Eyeballing the results shows dozens of results 50.xx - 49.xx, often at the expensive of NUPES.
Would anyone have a list of races ranked by closeness?

There were 32 races decided by less than 200 votes. NUPES were indeed quite unlucky in these close races. Meanwhile ENS had the luck of the LPC.

Margin    Winner       Loser     Constituency
    3          ENS        NUPES     Haute-Garonne 6th
    4          ENS        NUPES     Seine-et-Marne 8th
   11         ENS          RN         Loiret 5th
   16         DVC         DVC       Wallis and Futuna
   18         ENS        NUPES     Essone 5th (Cedric Villani's seat, he lost) 
   19         LR+        NUPES     Saint Pierre and Miquelon
   24         ENS        NUPES     Charente 1st
   56         RN           ENS        Pas-de-Calais 6th (Minister of Health lost)
   65         ENS        NUPES     Côte-d'Or 3rd
   71         NUPES      RN         Pas-de-Calais 3rd
   78         ENS        NUPES     Seine-Maritime 1st
   88         NUPES      RN         Sarthe 4th
   89         NUPES      ENS       Pyrénées-Atlantiques 4th
  104        NUPES      ENS       Hautes-Pyrénées 1st
  105        ENS          RN         Nièvre 2nd (triangulaire with NUPES)
  115        NUPES      ENS       Orne 1st
  116        ENS         NUPES    Puy-de-Dôme 4th
  117        NUPES      ENS       Yvelines 11th
  122        ENS-reb   NUPES    Finistere 2nd
  126        ENS           LR        Haut-Rhin 1st
  126        ENS         NUPES    Lot 2nd (triangulaire with RN)
  140        RN           NUPES    Allier 2nd 
  148        NUPES       RN        Meurthe-et-Moselle 6th
  156        REG          DVD      Haute-Corse 2nd
  165        ENS         NUPES    Meurthe-et-Moselle 2nd
  177        NUPES      ENS       Val-de-Marne 7th
  183        ENS         NUPES    Gironde 12th
  193        RN           NUPES    Charente 3rd
  193        Likud        ENS       Expats 8th
  198        ENS          RN         Ardennes 3rd
  199        ENS         NUPES    Hautes-Alps 1st
  200        ENS         NUPES    Calvados 1st

[Flyersfan232]

Elisabeth Borne tender her resignation to Macron, but he refused:

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne offered her resignation to President Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the ruling party losing its majority in elections, but the head of state turned it down, the presidency said on Tuesday.

Macron believes the government needs to "stay on task and act" and the president will now seek "constructive solutions" to the political deadlock in talks with opposition parties, said a presidential official, who asked not to be named.

Macron’s discussions with opposition leaders will start on Tuesday with Christian Jacob, head of the traditional conservative Republicains (LR) party that has been in decline in recent months but could be courted to give Macron a parliamentary majority.
(...)

Macron is also set to meet with Le Pen, but Mélenchon is not expected to do the same.

why

[PSOL]

Elisabeth Borne tender her resignation to Macron, but he refused:

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne offered her resignation to President Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the ruling party losing its majority in elections, but the head of state turned it down, the presidency said on Tuesday.

Macron believes the government needs to "stay on task and act" and the president will now seek "constructive solutions" to the political deadlock in talks with opposition parties, said a presidential official, who asked not to be named.

Macron’s discussions with opposition leaders will start on Tuesday with Christian Jacob, head of the traditional conservative Republicains (LR) party that has been in decline in recent months but could be courted to give Macron a parliamentary majority.
(...)

Macron is also set to meet with Le Pen, but Mélenchon is not expected to do the same.

why

It should be obvious as to why.

[Flyersfan232]

Elisabeth Borne tender her resignation to Macron, but he refused:

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne offered her resignation to President Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the ruling party losing its majority in elections, but the head of state turned it down, the presidency said on Tuesday.

Macron believes the government needs to "stay on task and act" and the president will now seek "constructive solutions" to the political deadlock in talks with opposition parties, said a presidential official, who asked not to be named.

Macron’s discussions with opposition leaders will start on Tuesday with Christian Jacob, head of the traditional conservative Republicains (LR) party that has been in decline in recent months but could be courted to give Macron a parliamentary majority.
(...)

Macron is also set to meet with Le Pen, but Mélenchon is not expected to do the same.

why

It should be obvious as to why.

Mélenchon is giving up a chance to have influence

[PSOL]

Elisabeth Borne tender her resignation to Macron, but he refused:

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne offered her resignation to President Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the ruling party losing its majority in elections, but the head of state turned it down, the presidency said on Tuesday.

Macron believes the government needs to "stay on task and act" and the president will now seek "constructive solutions" to the political deadlock in talks with opposition parties, said a presidential official, who asked not to be named.

Macron’s discussions with opposition leaders will start on Tuesday with Christian Jacob, head of the traditional conservative Republicains (LR) party that has been in decline in recent months but could be courted to give Macron a parliamentary majority.
(...)

Macron is also set to meet with Le Pen, but Mélenchon is not expected to do the same.

why

It should be obvious as to why.

Mélenchon is giving up a chance to have influence

The wants of the LFI base, poor urban youth and struggling clerical workers, is radically different from the wants of shopkeeps and peripheral elites. There is no agreement and ultimately such a divide is too great to mend.

[MRCVzla]

Summary (so far) of the new Caucus group leaders, as expected, the NUPES will split 4 groups (LFI, GDR, Socialist and Ecologist) and Ensemble will do the same into 3 (Renaissance, MoDem and Horizons) plus own groups for LR and RN as well...

LFI: Mathilde Panot (Val de Marne 10th, incumbent group president)
GDR*: André Chassaigne (Puy-de-Dôme 5th, incumbent group president)
Socialist: Boris Vallaud (Landes 3rd)
Ecologist: Cyrielle Chatelain (Isère 2nd) and Julien Bayou (Paris 5th)
Renaissance: Aurore Bergé (Yvelines 10th)
MoDem: Jean-Paul Mattei (Pyrénées-Atlantiques 2nd)
Horizons: Laurent Marcangeli (Corse-du-Sud 1st)
LR: Olivier Marleix (Eure-et-Loir 2nd)
RN: Marine "Panzergirl" Le Pen (Pas-de-Calais 11th)

*Democratic and Republican Left (12 PCF+3 Réunion MPs+3 Tavini polynesian MPs so far)
In the cases of Renaissance, MoDem and the Republicans, the group leadership was disputed (in the case of Renaissance, Bergé needed a 2° round to be proclaimed), meanwhile in the rest of groups, the caucus leader (in the case of the Ecologist Pole, two) was proclaimed by acclamation.

Pending is the potential reemplacement of the "Liberties and Territories" group, likely called UTILE (Ultramarin, Territoires, Insularité, Liberté), with many of the overseas/left-wing dissidents/non NUPES MPs plus metro regionalists MPs (like Molac and the Corsicans), among others. Socialist dissident David Habib was also searching to form a similar group of non NUPES centre-left MPs, may this will be (?)
https://twitter.com/Sergemassau/status/1539595562181447686

Overseas minister Yaël Braun-Pivet (Yvelines 5th) has been designated by the Ensemble' groups as their candidate in the next week Speaker vote (June 28th), the groups are properly formed later that day.

[PSOL]

Found it, St Denis 12th constituency at like 52-48%. The dude ran on the LFI list.

[Sir John Johns]

Not sure if this is the right place to post it as the party failed to get any candidate in the runoff but here are the latest news from Reconquête:

https://twitter.com/LeGlobe_info/status/1539339739706363908

BEREZINA – The Reconquête party is in full implosion mode. During a meeting on Tuesday, Éric Zemmour has affirmed that popular classes are too much ‘illiterate’ for him addressing them… before barely avoiding going into a fist fight with Jérôme Rivière (L’Express).

The ‘illiterate’ part is confirmed by Yellow Jacket figure Jacline Mouraud who has however stated she will remain a member of Reconquête:

https://twitter.com/JaclineMouraud/status/1539616755118526464

Asked to know whether the expression ‘the popular France is illiterate’ has been pronounced by E. Zemmour, like many others, I am obliged to state the veracity of such statement. It is an insult to the people of France that I’m defending with all my strength

[Oryxslayer]

I mean Reconquête was a personality project that failed, so it no longer has a purpose. It tried to seize the mantle of the far right from Le Pen and failed. It was at its core an attempt by the old guard, lets call them FN-types, to take control from the "RN-types" who came in and gained power with Le Pens growth. The FN-types liked panzerdady's party which was LR for Racists. The new RN-Type guard is more anti-globalist from a position of the pocketbook, and of the ignored and forgotten.

Unsurprisingly more voters align with the latter, but more vocal and prominent people - like Zemmour - alligned with the former. With RN's success last weekend, Le Pen succeeded in defeated the heretical rivals who split off, or silencing the doubters who stayed behind inside the party. She even won and now has her people in control of places that the FN-types call home, so they could naturally gravitate towards her in the future.

I'm more interested now in what Ciotti and his ilk do now, cause he seems to be the natural evolution of the Zemmour story. Ciotti has ambition and can try to fuse 'respectable' LR types with the Zemmourites. With Macron's take of a something like a "Unity Government," a LR split would not be a surprising development over the next months.

[Flyersfan232]

I mean Reconquête was a personality project that failed, so it no longer has a purpose. It tried to seize the mantle of the far right from Le Pen and failed. It was at its core an attempt by the old guard, lets call them FN-types, to take control from the "RN-types" who came in and gained power with Le Pens growth. The FN-types liked panzerdady's party which was LR for Racists. The new RN-Type guard is more anti-globalist from a position of the pocketbook, and of the ignored and forgotten.

Unsurprisingly more voters align with the latter, but more vocal and prominent people - like Zemmour - alligned with the former. With RN's success last weekend, Le Pen succeeded in defeated the heretical rivals who split off, or silencing the doubters who stayed behind inside the party. She even won and now has her people in control of places that the FN-types call home, so they could naturally gravitate towards her in the future.

I'm more interested now in what Ciotti and his ilk do now, cause he seems to be the natural evolution of the Zemmour story. Ciotti has ambition and can try to fuse 'respectable' LR types with the Zemmourites. With Macron's take of a something like a "Unity Government," a LR split would not be a surprising development over the next months.

did ciotti endorse le pen in the second round or anyone from his wing of lr? And what about that other right wing populist guy who got 4 last time and 2 this time

[Oryxslayer]

I mean Reconquête was a personality project that failed, so it no longer has a purpose. It tried to seize the mantle of the far right from Le Pen and failed. It was at its core an attempt by the old guard, lets call them FN-types, to take control from the "RN-types" who came in and gained power with Le Pens growth. The FN-types liked panzerdady's party which was LR for Racists. The new RN-Type guard is more anti-globalist from a position of the pocketbook, and of the ignored and forgotten.

Unsurprisingly more voters align with the latter, but more vocal and prominent people - like Zemmour - alligned with the former. With RN's success last weekend, Le Pen succeeded in defeated the heretical rivals who split off, or silencing the doubters who stayed behind inside the party. She even won and now has her people in control of places that the FN-types call home, so they could naturally gravitate towards her in the future.

I'm more interested now in what Ciotti and his ilk do now, cause he seems to be the natural evolution of the Zemmour story. Ciotti has ambition and can try to fuse 'respectable' LR types with the Zemmourites. With Macron's take of a something like a "Unity Government," a LR split would not be a surprising development over the next months.

did ciotti endorse le pen in the second round or anyone from his wing of lr? And what about that other right wing populist guy who got 4 last time and 2 this time

I can't speak on 2022 but in 2017 Ciotti refused to follow the LR line and endorse Macron (or Le Pen), which is arguably worse. His views pull from Zemmour, Le Pen, and LR orthodoxy. He leads a internal faction supposedly considerably size within LR that is on the parties right and long against appeasing Macron. His personal stock has gone up only because events combined all work in tandem for him: RN rise, LR decline, Ensemble plurality, and Zemmour's political extinction.

The other guy is Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, leader of his one-man party and Deputy for Essonne 8. He won reelection on Sunday by a considerable margin, another embarrassing loss for NUPES that could be partially blamed on him facing a candidate from LFI.

[MRCVzla]

Opening session of the legislature was today, as expected, Yaël Braun-Pivet (Renaissance) has been elected the first female Speaker ever of the National Assembly, she resigned from their ministerial post in the weekend in order to assume the France' 4th highest office.
Speaker, 1st round (majority: 277)
Yaël Braun-Pivet (Renaissance-Ensemble) 238
Fatiha Keloua-Hachi (PS-Nupes) 146
Sébastien Chenu (RN) 90
Annie Genevard (LR) 61
Nathalie Bassire (LIOT*) 18

Chenu retired in 2nd round as their bloc not having enough votes to win, so the majority number was lowered enough to Braun-Pivet being elected with simple majority.
Speaker, 2nd round (majority: 232)
Yaël Braun-Pivet (Renaissance-Ensemble) 242 (elected)
Fatiha Keloua-Hachi (PS-Nupes) 144
Annie Genevard (LR) 60
Nathalie Bassire (LIOT*) 16

Between Tuesday and Wednesday is being elected the bureau of the Assembly and the "questeurs", as well the parliamentary commisions. All eyes are on the so-called "prestigeous" Finance commission who in recent time, the presidential majority in power leaves to the main opposition group. Jean-Philippe Tanguy will be the RN candidate meanwhile the Nupes intergroup designed Eric Coquerel (LFI) as their candidate over Valérie Rabault (PS), LR also has is own candidate with Véronique Louwagie. The election will be secret voting, so is uncertain what bloc will control this commission.

Parliamentary groups standings:
Renaissance: 172
Rassemblement National: 89
La France Insoumise-NUPES: 75
Les Républicains: 62
Democrats (MoDem and independents): 48
Socialists-Nupes: 31
Horizons: 30
Ecologists-Nupes: 23
GDR-Nupes: 22
LIOT*: 16
Non inscrits: 9

All 4 Nupes groups will have the alliance name incorporate in their groups, and as in the speaker election or the mentioned Finance commission election, will have common candidates in the rest of posts.

*LIOT stands for Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories, is the spiritual succesor of the Liberties and Territories AND the UDI group, composed by the Corsican nationalists, Paul Molac, the remains of UDI and Les Centristes and other divers droite (like Bassire from Réunion or the Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and Mayotte right-wing independents) and divers centre (macronists dissidents or apparentés) like Olivier Serva or Paul Mathiasin. Bertrand Pancher (right-wing radicaux) and Christophe Naegelen (UDI) are the caucus co-presidents.

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

meanwhile the Nupes intergroup designed Eric Coquerel (LFI) as their candidate over Valérie Rabault (PS)

Oh, did they now. Of course Rabault could actually win a vote, so there's no martyrdom to be found there.

[Andrea]

Elections for Assembly Vicepresidents

Naïma Moutchou (Horizons) 373 votes ELECTED
Elodie Jacquier-Laforge (MoDem) 373 ELECTED
Valérie Rabault (Parti socialiste) 367 ELECTED
Caroline Fiat (La France insoumise) 297 ELECTED
Sébastien Chenu (Rassemblement national) 290 ELECTED
Hélène Laporte (Rassemblement national) 284 ELECTED
Benjamin Lucas (groupe Ecologiste - Nupes) 32 votes
Sandrine Rousseau (groupe Ecologiste - Nupes) 29 votes


Elections for Assembly Questeurs

Eric Ciotti (Les Républicains) 367 votes ; ELECTED
Marie Guévenoux (Renaissance !) 378 ELECTED
Eric Woerth (Renaissance) 356 ELECTED
Bastien Lachaud (La France insoumise) 158

Elections for Assembly Secretaries

Philippe Gosselin, Les Républicains, 363 ELECTED
Soumya Bourouaha, Gauche démocrate et républicaine, 359 ELECTED
Caroline Janvier, Renaissance, 357 ELECTED
Jean Terlier, Renaissance, 355 ELECTED
Claire Pitollat, Renaissance, 354 ELECTED
Laurence Vichnievsky, Démocrate, 353 ELECTED
Pierre Morel-A-L’Huissier, Liot, 352 ELECTED
Yannick Favennec-Bécot, Horizons, 349 ELECTED
Christophe Blanchet, Renaissance, 326 ELECTED
Rémy Rebeyrotte, Renaissance, 316 ELECTED

Frédéric Mathieu, La France insoumise, 180
Sarah Legrain, La France insoumise, 128
Danièle Obono, La France insoumise, 127
Hubert Julien-Laferrière, Ecologiste, 124
Bruno Bilde, Rassemblement national, 118
Edwige Diaz, Rassemblement national, 116
Sandrine Rousseau, Ecologiste, 93

Round 2
Hubert Julien-Laferrière, Ecologiste, 140 ELECTED
Danièle Obono, La France insoumise, 128 ELECTED
Bruno Bilde, Rassemblement national, 102
Edwige Diaz, Rassemblement national, 94
Sandrine Rousseau, Ecologiste, 94
Sarah Legrain, La France insoumise 7
Frédéric Mathieu, La France insoumise, 3

[Andrea]

Finance committee went to LFI in the end

Round 2

Eric Coquerel (LFI) 20 votes
Jean-Philippe Tanguy (RN) 11 votes
Véronique Louwagie (LR) 8 votes
Charles De Courson (LIOT) 2 votes

Round 3

Eric Coquerel 21
Jean-Philippe Tanguy 11
Véronique Louwagie 9

[Ethelberth]

What kind of people get elected as LREM but then change to MoDem in parliament. What is the biggest difference between these two groups anyways?

[Epaminondas]

What kind of people get elected as LREM but then change to MoDem in parliament. What is the biggest difference between these two groups anyways?

I see it as an attempt to distance themselves from Macron when his approval inevitably slumps, without actually relinquishing power.

The Modem has been around as a center-left party since 2007, founded by a non-controversial, well-respected figure in French politics (and former history teacher); LREM is just a vehicle for EM's ego and I'm not sure many of the lifer politicos will want to be in it in 5 years.

[Ethelberth]

What kind of people get elected as LREM but then change to MoDem in parliament. What is the biggest difference between these two groups anyways?

I see it as an attempt to distance themselves from Macron when his approval inevitably slumps, without actually relinquishing power.

The Modem has been around as a center-left party since 2007, founded by a non-controversial, well-respected figure in French politics (and former history teacher); LREM is just a vehicle for EM's ego and I'm not sure many of the lifer politicos will want to be in it in 5 years.

It is also possible that seat was reserved for LREM and they were LREMINOs. MD is complicated, since at least a good chunk of old UDF/CDS people has remained in LR.

[MRCVzla]

Changes in the government were announced yesterday and made official today, three important things: the MeTooed Damien Abad is out, Olivier Véran reemplaces Olivia Grégoire as spokeperson while the Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has been prized adding the competences of the Overseas Ministry left by the newly elected Speaker Braun-Pivet. Macronist partners MoDem and Horizons will have each one 4 and 2 ministers.


PM Borne' Declaration of General Policy will be tomorrow Wednesday 6th, and a vote about it (confidence motion) will not be held by initiative of the government, Borne is the 4th PM in not to do it, the other 3 were the Socialists PMs under Mitterrand' second term including the other female PM Edith Cresson. In response of this, LFI will formally present a no-confidence motion against the government.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I guess 33% less rapists in government is an improvement...

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

I guess 33% less rapists in government is an improvement...

Macron is the real progressive, which is why he's aiming for net zero rapist ministers by 2030.

[Sir John Johns]

The reasoning behind this reshuffle (because yes, technically, this is a reshuffle while, traditionally, after a legislative election, the whole government resigns and a new one is constituted even if concretely one a few ministerial changes actually happen – here, this is a continuation of Borne’s 1st government) is not making much sense:

- Damien Abad is out while he is *only* investigated for an attempted rape (hence how one of the few – the only one? - recent LR deserters has lost his position in the government) but, in the meantime, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, who is investigated for very similar facts, is remaining and so is Éric Dupont-Moretti, currently formally indicted for illegal taking of interest, quite an inconvenience when you’re the justice minister.

- Gérald Darmanin, who has exposed these latest weeks his incompetence (see the disastrous management of the Stade de France incidents), is not only confirmed as interior minister but, as previously mentioned, is also gaining the overseas. By this point, I think Macron has decided to piss off his last remaining voters in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane and so on, because the minister delegate for the overseas is a former prefect (strong colonial era vibes here) while what is seemingly the only government not coming from metropolitan France, Sonia Backès, is coming from New Caledonia where the Macron administration has brilliantly managed the independence referendums process with turnout collapsing from 85.7% to 43.9% between referendum 2 and referendum 3. The portfolio gave to Backès: whatever means ‘secretary of state for Citizenship’ (under the supervision of Darmanin; really this is masterful trolling coming from Macron).

- Christophe Béchu is promoted from junior minister in charge of territorial collectivities to minister for Ecological Transition and Cohesion of Territories in spite of never having showed a particular interest for environmental questions nor having experience in that area. Macron has campaigned on having an ambitious environment policy but he has already renounced to even pretend caring about it. Béchu has also been criticized for his past vocal opposition to same-sex marriage and his controversial decision to withdraw AIDS prevention posters aimed at homosexuals when the mayor of Angers.

- the ministry for Health and Prevention, that has been downgraded to fourteenth position in the protocol order (behind the ministry for Culture, this is largely symbolic but just lol), has been awarded to François Braun, an emergency doctor considered as favorable to private practitioners. French hospitals are currently overloaded, there is shortage of nursing staff, a new wave of Covid infections is ongoing as well as a monkey pox outbreak but the government has did absolutely nothing these last weeks bar ordering a ‘flash report’ on situation in health sector to… François Braun in spite of the pile of parliamentary reports already existing on the matter.

- Olivier Véran, who barely avoided being kicked out from the government on last May and got appointed delegate minister for parliamentary relations (he certainly hasn’t been overloaded during his short stint at this post), has been moved to spokesman of the government and replaced by Franck Riester, that unnoticeable guy who has been in the government since 2018. Véran is himself replacing Olivia Grégoire, a straight talk and quite vulgar and aggressive woman (also the former girlfriend of Manuel Valls), whose position as government’s spokesperson was no longer very appropriate since the government lost its majority in the National Assembly and has no longer the luxury of creating useless controversies with abrupt and rude comments. Grégoire is, of course, remaining in the government as minister delegate for Small and Medium Businesses, Commerce, Handicraft and Tourism.

- Caroline Cayeux, the mayor of Beauvais, has been appointed to the position of minister delegate for Territorial Collectivities. She is a right-wing dinosaur who already worked in the ministerial administration at the time of Pres. Pompidou but she finally got a job of minister at 73. Like Béchu, she has been widely criticized for her past strong opposition to same sex marriage and participation in the protests organized by the homophobic lunatics of the Manif pour tous.

- Clément Beaune has been, for some reason, demoted from minister delegate for Europe to minister delegate to Transportation in spite of a relatively remarkable tenure as the man in charge of European matters since 2020.

- The position of minister delegate to City and Housing is going to Olivier Klein, the mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois in the banlieue, who has been previously a member of the PCF and the PS.

- Geneviève Darrieussecq, a close ally of Bayrou, who has served in the government since 2017 but has been totally unnoticeable, is moved from minister delegate for Veterans to minister delegate for Disabled Persons.

- the best part is the totally useless ministry (‘Social and Solidary Economy and Associative Life’) that has been recreated just to give something for Marlène Schiappa to pass the time between the writing of her books nobody is reading and her countless television appearances to laud Macron and embarrass herself. A government that needs to call back Marlène Schiappa is really a desesperate government.

- Sarah El Haïry, who has been kicked out from the government in last May, is returning as secretary of state for Youth and Universal National Service. I guess she is only here to meet political (she is a member of Modem) and gender parity quotas. Also, she distinguished herself last year by stating she was more concerned about intersectional discourses than Éric Zemmour.

- Patricia Mirallès has been appointed secretary of state in charge of Veterans and Remembrance just few weeks after revelations made by Mediapart according to which she has claimed as parliamentary expense claims a hotel stay with her husband, the house relocation of her son and the repair of her daughter’s computer hard-drive.

Unlike the last May government constitution, there isn’t even a surprise appointment like Ndiaye. Here, this is just a game of musical chairs and a shameless rewarding of incompetence and corruption that will please absolutely nobody (bar the most braindead followers of Macron and the ones appointed/kept in the government, and even the latter part is uncertain).

Also, yeah, there is 42 members in the government; so much for the eternal promises of gouvernement resserré (government with a small number of ministers).

[Sir John Johns]

Éric Coquerel (LFI), the newly elected head of the finance commission of the National Assembly, is facing since several days accusations of sexual harassment. Well, renewed accusations of sexual harassment because insistent rumors about Coquerel’s alleged inappropriate behavior with women circulated since several years now but it has been relaunched by recent declarations of Black activist and TV pundit Rokhaya Diallo (who mentioned on radio having discussed with LFI female members about Coquerel’s improper behavior with women) and the filing today of a complaint for sexual harassment against Coquerel by a former Parti de Gauche member for facts dating back from 2014. The woman who filed the complaint has been since part of the Yellow Jackets movement and is very involved in the antivax movement. On her own admission, Coquerel’s inappropriate gestures (wandering hands and insistent flirt) against her may not be considered as a criminal offense by the justice.

This is of course gold for the right and the far-right which are denouncing the hypocrisy and double standards of the NUPES, which has demanded the resignation of Abad these last weeks but is now much more cautious about the case of Coquerel.

But some women inside the NUPES are more than pissed up, notably because the allegation made by LFI deputy Manuel Bompard about the absence of reporting on Coquerel’s behavior to the LFI internal committee in charge of fighting sexual and sexist violence has been contradicted by a former LFI female member. According to this one, she has discussed the case of Coquerel with Bompard in 2018.

Everybody will be genuinely shocked to learn that Jean-Luc has decided to blame the medias (and also the far-right and longtime political enemies of the LFI that are apparently including Diallo):

https://twitter.com/JLMelenchon/status/1543642323321503746

The goal of the circus about Coquerel: his presidency of the commission of finance and the revenge of the RN. Some medias are organizing a parade of accusers who have in common their activism for years against the LFI. Consequently, I will not going tomorrow on BFM to participate in this staging.

A perfect timing for Taha Bouhafs to come back today under the limelight after two months of silence with the publication of a statement in which he claimed that, unlike the version then sold by the LFI, he has been forced to withdraw his candidacy for deputy, has never been informed on the identity of the person who is accusing him of sexual violence and is totally ignorant of the exact nature of the allegations made against him. He also said that Clémentine Autain demanded him to make a statement to explain his withdrawal because of the racist attacks he had received and not because of the allegations of sexual violence. As we all know, the accusations of sexual violence were still made public and Bouhafs is now demanding the LFI a ‘just and fair proceeding’ with the right to defend himself inside the party against the accusations made against him.

https://twitter.com/T_Bouhafs/status/1544259343096446981

Meanwhile, the own turpitude of the RN deputies (one has been the owner of a bookstore specialized in antisemitic and Holocaust denial literature and has been previously jailed for gun violence; another one is sued by an aristocratic family for usurpation of nobility as he using the name ‘Taché de La Pagerie’ very similar to the one of the family of Empress Josephine: Tascher de La Pagerie) got unnoticed and the far-right party may passed as the ‘respectable’ and ‘reasonable’ opposition.

[MRCVzla]

Just to "close" the circle, the no confidence vote presented by the NUPES groups was on Monday and of course it failed, just having the votes of all MPs from LFI, GDR and the Ecologist groups, the majority of the Socialist group (except 6 of the not-so-NUPES friendly PS MPs like Rabault, Saulignac, Potier, etc who didn't vote the motion)... and for some reason Nicolas Dupont-Aignan being the only right-winger voting for the left motion.

Its more than clear what the dynamic so far in the legislature is being the Macronismo, NUPES and RN blocks cancelling each other, meanwhile LR on many occassions will be simple spectators (or act responsibly).