New Prime Minister: Behind the Scenes of the PS Summer Universities, Activists Divided Around the Name of Bernard Cazeneuve

La ligne défendue par Olivier Faure contestée au sein du parti. MAXPPP – jdutac

The socialists are organizing their summer days in Blois. The occasion for new divisions between those who want to continue to support Lucie Castets and those who would not look unfavorably on the arrival of another left-wing profile at Matignon. Report.

The rain has just stopped… But on the still damp forecourt of the Halle aux Grains in Blois where the PS summer days are taking place, the weather is still stormy. Two air masses are in conflict.

To the right of the building, around the food trucks, the pro-Lucie Castets crowd is turning up the heat. Around 3pm, the young woman is warmly welcomed by part of the New Popular Front assembly: Clémentine Autain, Raquel Garrido, Alexis Corbière, but also Marine Tondelier and of course Olivier Faure. The Insoumis are absent.

A putsch is being prepared

On the other side of the Halle, under the trees, a putsch is being prepared in a much cooler atmosphere. Journalists were invited by WhatsApp message to an impromptu press conference.

“We are going to announce a rapprochement between the minority groups”, confided former MP Patrick Mennucci, encountered on the terrace of a café. He added: “We are also going to ask for a Congress, it is in the statutes of the PS. A Congress must be organized within 6 months after legislative elections. We are not going to continue to ally ourselves with an anti-Semitic party”.

“We must now form an electoral alliance around us. It is strength that creates unity and not unity that creates strength”, adds the president of the PS group in the Senate, Patrick Kanner.

Carole Delga: “The situation is serious”

A few minutes later, in front of a wall of cameras, opponents of First Secretary Olivier Faure gather: Hélène Geoffroy, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, Carole Delga, Michaël Delafosse and Karim Bouamrane, whose name was mentioned for Matignon…

“We are thus showing the strength of the gathering that you see taking place before your eyes”, begins Hélène Geoffroy, close to François Hollande, who adds: “We have called for continuing discussions to find a left-wing Prime Minister to advance issues such as pension reform and increasing the minimum wage. We are concerned because the PS is adopting LFI's strategy of sound and fury.”

“This is a serious time for our country, for the Republic that moves us, and for all left-wing forces. “We must create a non-censorship majority,” then assures the President of the Regional Council of Occitanie Carole Delga.

Delafosse:  "The question is not the name"

Should we see here a movement of support for the former Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who is increasingly often cited as the successor to Gabriel Attal ?

Is part of the PS already preparing its arrival at Matignon ? “The question is not the name of the future Prime Minister, it is the program: the repeal of the pension reform and the question of purchasing power”, assures us the mayor of Montpellier Michaël Delafosse.

The European deputy Jean-Marc Germain adds: “We are not digging in our heels, we are not saying that we want the whole program because we have to broaden it to succeed in finding a majority, but we are sticking to our line. On the other hand, the Macronists must commit to not censoring for a year.

Cazeneuve on everyone's lips

The moderate wing of the socialists therefore wants above all to show that it is open to other personalities besides Lucie Castets. But it is the name of Bernard Cazeneuve that comes up in all the conversations. “Bernard, I know him well. He will commit to the repeal of the pension reform and that of the immigration law, to the increase of the minimum wage…", assures us a newly elected MP.

“He will have the will to lead a left-wing policy: I know his rigor and his honesty. He will form a government that will allow him not to be censored”, completes Patrick Mennucci.

Laure and Yasmine, activists and supporters of Olivier Faure, say the same thing: “We will not close the door to a Prime Minister who would go back on the pension reform and increase the minimum wage”.

But another part of the activists do not intend to let go of the candidate chosen by the NFP. At the evening meeting, many came to chant: "Castets at Matignon".

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