End of the false suspense: after several days of procrastination, a ninth group in the National Assembly will see the light of day, Tuesday, May 19, led by dissidents from the left wing of La République en Marche (LREM).

The group "Ecology Democracy Solidarity" will be presented at the end of the morning during a press conference by videoconference. It will be made up of around twenty deputies, including the ex-"walkers" Matthieu Orphelin, close to Nicolas Hulot, Paula Forteza, the already dissident candidate for the Town Hall of Paris Cédric Villani, Aurélien Taché or Martine Wonner, excluded there has just two weeks to have voted against Edouard Philippe's deconfinement plan.

"These deputies are leaving LREM because they believe that their sensitivity has not been able to express themselves for the past three years. While originally, En Marche promised to overcome the cleavages, for them, it is a statement of failure ", explains a relative of Cédric Villani, contacted by France 24.

>> Read: Deconfinement plan: deputies denounce "a travesty of democracy"

In announcing his departure from LREM on Sunday, Aurélien Taché explained in the Sunday Journal that he was "a man of the left" and that he had to leave the majority group "to remain so".

Beyond those already outside LREM, there will be a dozen to announce, Tuesday, their departure for the group Ecology Democracy Solidarity. Consequence: The Republic on the march should lose an absolute majority at the Palais Bourbon, a strong symbol even if it can rely on the 46 MoDem deputies and the ten elected officials Agir.

Government pressure on potential group members

In June 2017, LREM and related deputies were 314. Between defections and exclusions, they are already only 295, while the absolute majority is at 289 seats.

Result: there has been in recent days "a lot of pressure on potential members of the group, especially from the government or executives of the LREM group", reported to AFP an elected official working on the constitution of this new group.

>> Read: Highly challenged, Emmanuel Macron promises to "invest" in the public hospital

There have also been many comments in the media, even before the creation of the group was formalized. The Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire denounced on France Info "frogs" at the Palais Bourbon, not up to the post-crisis challenges of the coronavirus, according to him.

"Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and work together, to think, including having disagreements, (...) that's the key to, tomorrow, rebuilding our country", denounced the boss on Sunday of LREM, Stanislas Guerini, reproaching Aurélien Taché for his "individualism".

Government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye, meanwhile, denounced last week in the approach of the 9th group "a political misinterpretation".

Orphan, Batho and Villani united, but not in opposition

"It is a group which will not be in opposition and which will be constructive vis-à-vis the majority", nuances however the same source contacted by France 24. Like the deputies MoDem and Agir, these dissidents should therefore continue to support the government.

This positioning and the rallying of the former Socialist Minister for Ecology Delphine Batho, to positions so far removed from the majority group in matters of economic policy, is therefore surprising.

>> Read: Covid-19: will ecology be sacrificed in the name of economic recovery?

"At LREM, they are many to find that it is a group made of odds and ends, which will not have the capacity to really weigh in the National Assembly", breathes to France 24 the entourage of a member significant of the majority.

In the meantime, the Ecology Democracy Solidarity group intends to occupy the field of ideas: most of its elected members are part of the initiative of 60 parliamentarians with an ecological and social fiber who unveiled on May 13 thirty proposals for "the day after "the coronavirus crisis, including a salary increase for caregivers, an energy renovation plan or the establishment of a universal income.

With AFP

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_FR