It's a little oddity, not too bad. All the same, President LR of the Senate had not been informed that his name would be publicly cited. In an interview with Le Figaro, Yaël Braun-Pivet called for the “coming together” of the right and the center with a view to the 2027 presidential election. The President (Renaissance) of the National Assembly thus judged that, “in these difficult times, we need unity and appeasement” and that, “like others, Gérard Larcher can embody this coming together.”
It turns out that the two people had dinner together that same evening. If the meal ended without fanfare between two of the four main figures of the State, Gérard Larcher preferred to decline the outstretched hand. “I thank Yaël Braun-Pivet for his proposal, but I am not a candidate in the presidential election,” he confirms to Le Figaro. His abundant entourage: “Gérard Larcher has just been elected president of the Senate. This is the position he wanted, he has the confidence of senators, it is not to run for another mandate than this one.
An anticipated increase in the minimum wage, before the automatic increase on January 1, is still under discussion, and, at this stage, “nothing has been decided,” Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou said on Thursday.
He said he was aiming for “convergence” with the social partners by next Thursday, a day of national mobilization for the defense of purchasing power.
“The minimum wage is not taboo. (...) At this stage, I have no conviction, I am in the debate, in the discussion. There is nothing that has been decided,” declared the minister, interviewed on France Inter, specifying that he had completed a “first round of consultation” with the social partners before initiating a second.
“I hope that we will achieve convergence around November 5”, “if the three actors – companies, unions and State – we manage to each take steps towards the others, to find a balance”, he added, while the government is looking for ways to respond to social mobilizations around purchasing power.
Manuel Bompard, coordinator of La France insoumise (LFI), estimated Thursday that high school students were “right” to want to continue their mobilization because the responses provided by the government are “very largely insufficient”.
“It’s not me who decides, but from what I have heard, the high school students intend to continue their mobilization and I think they are right,” he said on France 2. The MP wanted to “congratulate” them because “their movement is starting to move the government” after weeks of “denial”.
But the first responses provided by the executive “are very largely insufficient”, he estimated.
The government announced this week several measures to try to put an end to the high school protest, launched more than a month ago.
On TF1’s “20 Heures” last night, Renaissance candidate Gabriel Attal called for “a big Democratic primary” to avoid a duel between Insoumis and nationalists. Without mentioning any names. “I didn’t really understand what Gabriel Attal was proposing,” replied government spokesperson Maud Bregeon on BFMTV/RMC, support for Horizons candidate Édouard Philippe.
“The time has come for clarification,” she says. “Who seriously thinks that we could put Raphaël Glucksmann and Bruno Retailleau in the same program, in the same meeting, in the same primary?” she asks. Before defending: “We must share a certain number of lowest common denominators”. “The right gathering space is that of the right and the center,” she still defends.
On the occasion of its parliamentary niche, this Thursday, La France Insoumise (LFI) proposes the indexation of salaries as well as the increase in the minimum wage to 1,500 euros net. On Saturday, the Minister of the Economy, Roland Lescure, affirmed that the government was considering bringing forward the automatic revaluation of the SMIC by one month. “It’s a joke, every year it must be revalued, the government tells us that it is going to give us a big gift, it is not up to the situation,” tackled the Insoumis coordinator, Manuel Bompard, on France 2. “We don’t need a little help,” he continued.
Representatives of high school student organizations will be received by Laurent Nuñez on Thursday before a new day of mobilization planned for Saturday, AFP learned on Wednesday from the Interior Minister's entourage.
The meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Beauvau, it was added. Since the start of their movement in mid-September, high school students have accused the police of violence, while the minister defends “proportionate” action by his troops to put an end to the blockades of establishments.
During an interview broadcast Wednesday evening on the HugroDécrypte YouTube channel, Emmanuel Macron denounced a “disinhibition of anti-Semitism among some and a disinhibition of racism among others”, after the attack in Trappes (Yvelines). The head of state pointed the finger at La France insoumise (LFI) and the National Rally (RN).
“Mr. Macron made racist and homophobic remarks and never had to justify it,” severely accused the nationalist deputy, Jean-Philippe Tanguy on TF1 this Thursday, based on an investigation by the newspaper Le Monde published in 2024, and whose information the president denied. “He is the one who has managed France for nine years. Under his mandate, anti-Semitism and homophobia reached records,” he said. And also calling the president “very problematic”.
Gabriel Attal's plea for “a big Democratic primary” was received very coldly by Édouard Philippe and Bruno Retailleau, but the liberal David Lisnard, a supporter of this competition, immediately called for people to “hurry up” to organize it.
“Only one thing is clear, it is not this + at the same time + as confusing as it is hazardous which will make it possible to avoid a deadly second round” between the candidate of the RN and that of LFI, reacted on the social network
“Who understood the scope? Are we assured that the losers would agree to support the winner?” asked this person close to the mayor of Le Havre, who is well ahead of his Renaissance rival in the polls.
Bruno Retailleau's entourage went further, assuring AFP that Gabriel Attal's project "is stillborn because it does not clearly limit the field of the primary and does not exclude Raphaël Glucksmann", the candidate from the left-wing primary.
After the unprecedented scenes of looting during the demonstrations of October 17, several candidates spoke: Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Éric Zemmour on LCI, the next day, as well as Édouard Philippe during the “Grand Oral 2027 BFMTV-Le Figaro”. For his part, the president of the AMF (Association of Mayors of France), David Lisnard, took part in a Republican march in Limoges, alongside the mayor, Guillaume Guérin, to denounce the fire which ravaged the Town Hall.
As the country prepares for the October 24 demonstrations, the latest polls make it possible to measure the effect of these events on voting intentions. They could strengthen the weight of security issues in the campaign and weigh on the choices of some voters. It remains to be seen which candidates manage to translate this concern into electoral support.
Configurations, chances of qualification in the second round, evolution of trends, etc. To see more clearly, Le Figaro sifts through all the scenarios tested by the institutes using its dedicated aggregator.
Left behind in the polls, Gabriel Attal advocated on Wednesday the organization of a “democratic primary” before the presidential election, to “prevent” a second round between La France insoumise and the National Rally, a process opposed by Édouard Philippe, declared candidate since 2024.
“It is time to all be responsible and organize the rally to which millions of French people aspire through a major primary” to give back “hope to so many French people who today doubt and no longer believe that it is possible to prevent a second round from which our country would not recover between rebellious France and the National Rally,” declared the Renaissance candidate at the Élysée to the TF1 newspaper.
