It was at the Center des Congrès Robert-Schuman, a pro-European party, that the presidential movement held its first meeting after the long electoral sequence which earned Emmanuel Macron a reappointment to the Élysée, but the loss of absolute majority in the Assembly.

The few hundred executives present worked on the "common values" of Renaissance, which bring together La République en Marche, the right-wing Agir party of Minister Franck Riester and, on the left wing, Territories of Progress of Minister Olivier Dussopt.

"Let's build our house of overcoming! Let's build this common house with all those who want to act in the service of the French, in the service of our country, in the service of Europe", concluded Elisabeth Borne.

"Overcoming", this doctrine of macronism "and right and left", in the words of the founder, will remain the leitmotif of the Renaissance.

To question it would be "the loss of our own bearings", warned the Prime Minister.

And "beyond Renaissance, Territories of Progress and Action, there is + Together +, with the MoDem, with Horizons", recalled Ms. Borne, in reference to the allied but autonomous parties of François Bayrou and Édouard Philippe , absent in Metz.

#photo1

Those present, including ministers Bruno Le Maire, Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Clément Beaune, and the great legislative winners Richard Ferrand and Christophe Castaner have refined their "table of values" gathered in twelve "founding principles": Republic, Europe, freedom , secularism, equal opportunities, progress, ecology, work, feminism, nation, state authority, territorial initiative.

Also on the agenda: organizational issues.

Greater decentralization, a weak point of the last five years, and the establishment of a paid subscription are a consensus in a party forged on free membership.

Merger or "confederation"?

"Activists, sympathizers ... We are unable to say how many we are. We claim 400,000 members and I read yesterday that the active militants would only be 5,000", summarized, during a workshop, the referent En Marche from Cantal Gilles Desplaces.

There remains the question of the structure between the three member parties, and this is where the deal gets complicated.

#photo2

Do we need a merger?

"Emmanuel Macron wants a single party, this is Stéphane Séjourné's roadmap", the designated successor to the general delegate of LREM Stanislas Guerini, according to a participant.

Rather a "confederation", as mentioned by Olivier Dussopt, with parties retaining their independent existence?

During the conclusions, this hypothesis received boos from part of the room.

A confederal structure would be "a first step towards more unitary work, with parties that remain independent", even if "a single party, that can be the goal", declared to AFP Eduardo Rihan Cypel, spokesperson for PDT.

LREM did not seem to want to drag on, with a member vote announced in mid-September.

But the landing with the two allied parties should take longer, possibly until the European elections in 2024, according to one leader.

No "deadly caporalization", "exacerbated centralism" or "erasure of sensitivities", tried to reassure Stéphane Séjourné.

The leader of the Macronist MEPs recalled his desire to establish a "collegial leadership" including "great figures of the majority".

Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin have already made their interest known.

All to face the exacerbated political context, the uncertainties linked to the absence of a majority, the strong push of the National Rally in the Assembly.

Renaissance will have to "go to the reconquest of the working classes and the French who doubt and could be tempted by the extremes", explained Mr. Séjourné.

"I don't want us to be the next Obamas, that is to say a re-election, an ability to do things, but ultimately leaving the country in the hands of someone or a political group that can damage them," warned MP Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet.

© 2022 AFP