Claws from the RN, guerrillas from the Insoumis and pikes from his camp … Between freedom and reframing, Yaël Braun-Pivet tries to keep his “bottom lines” in his presidency of an Assembly triply polarized and inflamed by pension reform.
Almost no one knew her in 2017 when she entered politics as a deputy En Marche, after having “always voted PS”.
The chosen one from Yvelines, 52, has raced to the point of snatching the coveted Perchoir five years later, without being Emmanuel Macron’s first choice. With the challenge of channeling the fierce contests between the benches of the RN, the Nupes and the Macronist majority.
Anxious to exercise her freedom, the former criminal lawyer opposes the presidential temptation to present the pension reform by amendment to the Social Security budget, favoring a more in-depth examination. The episode left traces in his camp.
“She owes her election only to herself. But being free, we show it in acts, not like that”, squeaks a member of Renaissance.
Not Always a Prophet in His Country
Rebelote when she deplores parliamentary “obstruction”, the day after a barrage of Macronist amendments against a LFI proposal for the reintegration of non-vaccinated caregivers.
In response: nine Renaissance officials reject in a forum any “obstruction”, calling not to “forget” to “fight” the Insoumis and the RN.
Some nostalgic people regret having lost “a transmission belt” that was the former President of the Assembly Richard Ferrand, close to Emmanuel Macron and “de facto the real group president”, according to a Renaissance deputy.
In the entourage of the president, the number of dissatisfied people is reduced and it is argued that “the Élysée like Matignon have completely understood that his role was different from that of a group president”.
In hollow, some suspect its multiple displacements and its concern to open to the public the Assembly to be the fruit of presidential ambitions, never confirmed.
Some are still angry with her for having granted positions in the Assembly to the RN and accuse her of clumsiness, as when she declares to Figaro that: “her elected officials show us that they work”.
It does not matter that it specifies on the same line that “the fight against the RN must be fought on the merits”, the deputies of the far-right group hasten to brandish the first part of the quote on social networks.
“She comes to talk bullshit sometimes,” sighs a majority MP. “Those who speak well of her are from the opposition”.
But several members of the majority praise her qualities, finding that she “did the job” in the tough sequence of retreats. “She has a lot of courage”, believes Jean-Paul Mattei (MoDem), “it is a potential of our majority”, judges a Renaissance deputy.
With the left, relations have deteriorated.
The Rag Burns With LFI
“Obstruction, call to” pull yourself together “, Yaël Braun-Pivet did not put on gloves to attack the strategy of the rebellious. The latter did not hesitate to qualify it as an “agent provocateur”, or to attack him on his portfolio of shares in companies.
The rag has been burning since she proposed the temporary exclusion for 15 days of the rebellious Thomas Portes, for a tweet showing him with his foot resting on a ball bearing the image of the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt. A sanction validated by a majority of deputies, but which does not pass for LFI, because identical to that inflicted on RN Grégoire de Fournas for remarks deemed racist.
Another reason for tension with the left: an unprecedented draw to find out who from the Nupes or the RN would defend a request for a referendum against the pension reform, won by the group of Marine Le Pen.
“The only way to exercise the presidency is to stick to the bottom lines: respect for the rules, and the decisions of the office”, the highest collegiate body of the Assembly, defends those around him.
“She has a complicated job,” judges the former Perchoir holder Claude Bartolone. “I was president at a time when there were fewer groups. Their presidents held them more. There, I have the feeling that there are quite a few self-employed deputies”.
This article is originally published on arabnews.fr
