While the presidential camp initially seemed to favor a governing coalition that would span from the Greens to the conservatives, part of the Renaissance, President Emmanuel Macron's party, is putting forward an agreement with the right in the Assemblée Nationale. The tone had been set by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin as soon as the results of the legislative elections came in: "We must govern on the right and not have a coalition with La France Insoumise and the [Nouveau] Front Populaire," he said on July 7, referring to the radical-left party lead by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the alliance of left-wing parties formed in four days ahead of the snap elections.
On Tuesday, July 9, former prime minister Edouard Philippe called for "a technical agreement" going "from LR to Renaissance," with "a prime minister who is from the right." The proposal of the leader of the Horizons party met the approval of Renaissance MP Charles Rodwell: "I'm absolutely in favor of it, especially since we've been voting on all our legislation with them for two years now." The scenario is also favored by Rennaissance MP Aurore Bergé.
Behind the scenes, a battle of narratives has begun. On the one hand, the NFP claimed victory after having won the most seats in the second round of the elections and said someone from their rank should be appointed prime minister. On the other hand, the Rennaissance MPs in favor of an agreement with LR are putting forward that the right is in fact the country's leading political force – at the risk of alienating part of their group. "There's a lack of humility on our part," lamented Rennaissance MP Ludovic Mendes. "We've taken a beating and we're not in control of the situation."
These tensions were heightened by Darmanin's remarks at a group meeting on Tuesday morning. The interior minister has refused talks with the Greens, arguing that they supported demonstrators against the Sainte-Soline mega-basins (large water reservoirs for agricultural irrigation). A protest at the site on March 25, 2023, led to violent clashes with police. "You'd have to be deaf and blind not to take into account that millions of people voted NFP," a member of the government fumed in return.
Rennaissance president Stéphane Séjourné published an opinion piece in Le Monde on Tuesday, addressing "the leaders of the republican left" and proposing a compromise. But instead of clarifying the line, the move riled even the most ardent MPs, irritated to discover the text after its publication. Anger has also built up against Macron, accused of looking down on his party's elected representatives after having sent them to the scrap heap without so much as a word of congratulation on their re-election. It has also built up against the party, which MPs feel they saved by campaigning on their own, and are now excluded from internal decision-making.
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