The presidential party convened for the first time this kind of internal parliament, Saturday at the Institute of Judo, in Paris.

In this room accustomed to martial arts, the calm of the debates and the 300 people present, including a good part of the government, contrasts with the tension that seized the Hexagon with the pension reform, promulgated Friday after its validation by the Constitutional Council.

The objective of the day: to expose the internal democracy within the movement and its efforts to take root in the territories.

"Yes, we must collectively show this humility that we have sometimes lacked: we needed to establish our organization more, to review its functioning, to better adapt it also to the political context that is that of the second five-year term," said the party's secretary general Stéphane Séjourné.

The chair of the session falls to MP Fadila Khattabi. "No worries, there is no motion of rejection, no motion of censure here," laughs the elected representative of Côte-d'Or. "It's better than the Social Affairs Committee," which she chairs in the Assembly: "there are no madmen here."

Bruno Le Maire opens the ball of ministers and talks about green industry. The boss of Bercy celebrates Saturday his 54 years. "I started public life, Gérald Darmanin was in shorts, Stéphane Séjour passed his college certificate with Aurore Bergé, and Gabriel Attal was not yet born," says the Minister of the Economy.

Renaissance Secretary General Stéphane Séjour (l), Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and MP Fadila Khattabi (r) at the National Council of the presidential party, on April 15, 2023 in Paris © Thomas SAMSON / AFP

He was succeeded by Gérald Darmanin. The Minister of the Interior praises the results of six years of Emmanuel Macron in power, especially on the employment front. "Unemployment was the main difficulty of your generation," he slips for the elder of Bercy.

99,4%

"Everyone has his perception, his sensitivity, his land of election," continues the northerner who intends to carry a popular discourse within a party that, according to him, would be significantly lacking.

In the "distribution of wealth", between "those who work and who do not work", for access to health, education... "As long as we still have these inequalities, we can understand that some French people are angry," he warned.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne during the National Renaissance Council, April 15, 2023 in Paris © Thomas SAMSON / AFP

Gabriel Attal evokes as usual "this middle class who works, who gets up in the morning", and speaks of having "repaint the tax offices" to "tax evaders".

The ephemeral Minister of Health Brigitte Bourguignon presents the party's position on the end of life: two new "distinct rights", that of the patient at the end of life or suffering from an incurable disease to "ask for active assistance in dying". That of the doctor "to accept the patient's request or to evade it, by a conscience clause".

Particularly applauded, after having endured the debates on pensions in the hemicycles, the Minister of Labour Olivier Dussopt evokes "a battle that could not be won alone". But as she did the day before, Elisabeth Borne will repeat that there is "neither winner nor vanquished".

The Prime Minister made no announcements, two days before the presidential address. "We are determined to accelerate" reforms, she promised, while repeating that she wanted to "appease" the country.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt (r) attend the National Renaissance Council on April 15, 2023 in Paris © Thomas SAMSON / AFP

Submitted to the vote of the participants, the "general contribution" of Stéphane Séjour collected an approval score of 99.4%. The "thematic contributions" - green industry, value of work, housing, end of life, etc. - which could be amended during debates with the audience, were all adopted on a score of more than 90%. Including that on "emancipation", Macronian totem, reaffirming the presidential promise of a "solidarity at the source" (automatic payment of certain social benefits).

It will be "the queen of the reforms of this five-year term," assured the spokesman of the government Olivier Véran.

© 2023 AFP