Guest of CNEWS this Friday, November 6, the mayor of Orléans Serge Grouard declared for the first time that he could vote for Marine Le Pen, candidate of the National Rally, if she found herself facing Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the second round of the presidential election. He notably accuses the leader of the Insoumis of causing “mayhem everywhere in the country”.
The elected official left the Republican party in 2023, but pleaded for a government agreement with the Macronist group rather than a rapprochement with the far-right party. His statement was sharply criticized by the left-wing opposition in the city council.
“Things are accelerating in the discussions” on the modalities and timetable of a primary of the right and the center for the presidential election, so that this process could succeed “rapidly”, affirmed Friday the Renaissance candidate Gabriel Attal.
“There are extremely numerous, extremely dense discussions in recent hours and recent days, so things are becoming clearer very quickly so that the primary can be concluded quickly,” estimated Mr. Attal after visiting the Envision battery factory for electric vehicles near Douai (North).
“Those who choose to stay outside this process of bringing together will bear responsibility for the division, and therefore for the second round between La France insoumise and the National Rally” in the presidential election, he added. He thus sent a new blow of pressure towards Edouard Philippe, the Horizons candidate who refuses for the moment to comply with such a primary.
Struggling in the polls, Bruno Retailleau rallied this week to Gabriel Attal's call to organize an expanded primary. The LR candidate estimated that this election could take place during the first half of February “at the latest”, if Edouard Philippe agreed to participate.
As for the mayor of Cannes David Lisnard (ex-LR), another candidate declared on the right, he has been campaigning for such an election for a long time. Three-quarters of right and center supporters (74%) are in favor of organizing a primary to nominate a single presidential candidate, according to an Odoxa poll for Le Figaro published Thursday.
The three representative employers' organizations will together hear the presidential candidates on their economic programs on March 8 in Paris, they announced Thursday. Patrick Martin (Medef), Amir Reza Tofighi (Les Entrepreneurs, ex-Cmpe) and Michel Picon (U2P) “wanted to audition together the candidates for the presidential election on March 8, 2027,” indicated the three organizations in a joint press release.
Employers are currently not hiding their strong concerns about the French economic situation and the efforts that are being asked of businesses. The bosses hope that this meeting “will make it possible to compare the proposals in order to respond to the concerns of business leaders, and to describe their vision of the economic strategy of our country”.
François Ruffin will withdraw his candidacy for the presidential election “if a solution emerges to beat Marine Le Pen in the second round” but “he does not see today” this solution which cannot, according to him, be Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
“Today, I am a candidate. Now, let things be clear, if a solution emerges to beat Marine Le Pen in the second round, I will be for it,” the Somme MP declared on franceinfo on Friday.
But “I don’t see this solution today,” he immediately added. In any case, according to him, it cannot come from Jean-Luc Mélenchon, he judged, referring to “the second round polls” which currently give the rebellious candidate largely beaten by the RN candidate.
In politics more than elsewhere, the misfortune of one person makes the happiness of others. That of Donald Trump, heavily sanctioned in the mid-term elections by the loss of both houses of Congress, in any case satisfies the French left.
From this berezina of the leader of the Maga movement the left draws an encouraging signal for 2027. To the point of concluding that nothing is written and that Marine Le Pen, given winner in the polls whatever the scenario, is not unbeatable. Thus Manuel Bompard, the coordinator of La France insoumise (LFI), convinced that “it is popular mobilization which makes it possible to push back the extreme right” and that the same will happen “in France too”.
“We are the only ones to have one,” boasted the program manager of La France insoumise (LFI), Clémence Guetté, on France inter. Unveiled today, L’Avenir en commune contains “around 1000 proposals”. Among them, the minimum wage at 1,700 euros, “new proposals on AI”, such as “a moratorium” on data centers, on “new family patterns”, as well as “ecological diseases”. The rebellious movement defends a “policy of recovery through popular consumption” and the increase in wages by taxing “those who have become rich”.
During his big meeting at Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis), tomorrow, the deputies “are going to stage what the program would change”, details Clémence Guetté, through “a short film”. A new slogan was put forward by the party coordinator, Manuel Bompard, on Franceinfo “Liberty, equality, solidarity”.
The day after the big day of mobilization on November 5, François Ruffin called for the indexation of salaries to inflation and an increase in the minimum wage to 14%. “Today a third of French people are underwater. The French must be able to make a good living from their work, and not survive. France is the country in Europe which has increased the minimum wage the least over the last ten years,” argues the deputy for the Somme and candidate Debout! in the presidential election.
François Ruffin proposes two solutions to resolve the French's concerns about purchasing power: “lower the cost of housing and increase salaries”.
“We have a France at the top which is gorging itself and a France at the bottom which is rationing itself” he denounces. “The State must think for SMEs and mid-sized companies and not through the CAC 40. Subsidies must be targeted to businesses. We must have a State that thinks from below, through industry,” he explains.
Asked about the big day of mobilization that took place yesterday, Manuel Bompard said on franceinfo this morning “that there will be a before and an after November 5”, at least “[he] wishes and hopes so”. “The scale of these demonstrations speaks to the exasperation of the French. If the government refuses to respond to the demands of the French, the mobilizations will continue. Not everyone has the luxury of waiting 6 months,” claims the coordinator of La France Insoumise.
“We are asking for an increase in the minimum wage of 15%, an increase in the index point for civil servants and the indexation of salaries to inflation,” he explains. He points to Marine Le Pen who opposes the revaluation of the minimum wage, accusing her of “moving closer to employers’ positions” and “abandoning the people”.
“We have not crossed the finish line, but we have taken important steps” in negotiations on salaries, assured Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou on TF1. While the executive is due to convene a “social conference” on Monday, he said he was in favor of an anticipated increase in the minimum wage on December 1. “I find that the symbol is important, it shows that we are taking action.” If necessary, the decision should be taken next week to be implemented on time.
As for the amount, Jean-Pierre Farandou mentioned “the mark of 1,500 euros net”, deeming it “important”, without committing to a sum, while the unions are demanding 100 to 150 euros net more. The minimum wage today is 1477.93 euros per month.
The Minister of Labor also wants to “act quickly on negotiations in the branches”, while successive increases in the minimum wage have caught up with salaries at the bottom of the scales. A pious wish formulated by the government for several years, without any effect. But this time, “we are ready to act,” promises Jean-Pierre Farandou. “We have a decree which is ready, and which would strongly encourage the branches to raise their minimums”, under penalty of seeing their costs increase.
One book per year for three years. Jordan Bardella keeps up the pace with the release of his third book called “Gouverner” by Fayard editions, on November 4. After What I'm Looking for and What the French Want, the president of the National Rally delivers the outlines of his "100 days" to Matignon, in the event of Marine Le Pen's victory in the presidential election.
Having become a political personality accustomed to literary exercise, Jordan Bardella will have, through this book, a new means of gauging his popularity rating, after the revelations by Mediapart on anti-Semitic writings attributed to him, which he firmly denies.
“Responding to the crisis of human civilization”: La France insoumise is releasing its presidential program for 2027 on Friday, on the eve of a major meeting in the Paris region. An edition in line with previous disruptive programs, with particular emphasis on the ecological question.
“Our entire program is structured around ecological planning, this is the starting point of our action”, explains to AFP the rebellious MP Hadrien Clouet, co-responsible for the program with Clémence Guetté. It is about “perpetuating human life”, even assures Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the introduction to this new version of L’Avenir en commune, sold for 4.90 euros in bookstores from Friday.
The radical left movement points to “capitalism which is driving us straight into the wall”. The Insoumis therefore intend to create “eco-regions”, an administrative overhaul of France where the regions would be organized around the “ecological characteristics” of the country: watersheds, mountains, maritime facades, etc.
