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Miércoles, 25 de diciembre 2024, 19:00
Manuel Valls' inclusion in the French government has strained relations between the left-wing opposition and Prime Minister François Bayrou. Despite Valls' 37-year tenure with the Socialist Party and his role as Prime Minister under François Hollande (2012-17), he remains a controversial figure among progressive factions, including the socialists. His perceived betrayals and political shifts between France and Spain, where he led the Ciudadanos list in Barcelona's 2019 municipal elections, are not forgiven. His recent rightward shift, criticising the fragile alliance between social democrats and France Insoumise (akin to Sumar or Podemos), also irks them.
"Valls represents failure and betrayal," declared Socialist MP Arthur Delaporte in a radio interview on Tuesday, following the announcement of the first government ministers under the Bayrou-Macron partnership. "We expected Christmas Eve and got the night of the living dead. It's Halloween!" exclaimed PS Secretary General Olivier Faure on RMC radio. "They have not respected any of the conditions of the non-censorship pact proposed by the left to Bayrou," he added. Among these "conditions," he cited the refusal to use the controversial 49.3 decree, "a change in policy direction," and "stopping reliance on the far right."
Following the December 4th no-confidence motion against conservative Michel Barnier—the first to result in a Prime Minister's removal since 1962—the PS distanced itself from its Popular Front allies (insoumis, greens, and communists). It even opened the door to a non-aggression pact with the veteran centrist leader. However, last week's meetings with Bayrou yielded no progress. The appointment of Valls as Overseas Minister, along with other leaders (Gérald Darmanin, Bruno Retailleau...) unpopular with the left, further widened the divide.
"If there is no change in direction, we will opt for censure," warned Faure. Bayrou, who will deliver his general policy speech on January 14th, has already stated he will not seek a vote of confidence. Unlike in Spain, it is not mandatory in France. Nonetheless, the insoumis group announced plans to file another no-confidence motion against the MoDem leader, one of the three parties in the Macronist alliance.
If other Popular Front factions—the largest bloc in a highly fragmented National Assembly—support this motion, it will place the Prime Minister in a similarly unstable position as his predecessor. Indeed, he will be at the mercy of Marine Le Pen's unpredictable far-right. "With Valls' appointment as Overseas Minister or François Rebsamen as Territories Minister, (Bayrou) will struggle to convince of the left's presence in his government. These figures distanced themselves from the PS long ago," warns 'Le Monde' in a recent editorial.
The former Prime Minister's trajectory over the past eight years has distanced him from his former party colleagues. After stepping down as head of the government in December 2016, Valls ran in the socialist primaries to be the presidential candidate the following year. However, he lost to the radical Benoît Hamon. Instead of supporting the winner, as he had pledged in writing, the Catalan-rooted politician backed Macron, who would win the race to the Élysée.
Due to tense relations with the new president at the time—the centrist leader's cabinet suspected that rumours about his alleged homosexuality originated from Valls' circle—the former Prime Minister was relegated to a minor role in the Macronist parliamentary group. This led him to embark on a political venture in Spain, which caused astonishment in France.
Just two years after being elected as a councillor in Barcelona, he left the Catalan capital and returned to his country in 2021. Since then, he has unsuccessfully attempted to re-enter French politics through the ballot box. In the 2022 legislative elections, he was eliminated in the first round in the constituency for French citizens living in Spain, despite having the Macronist coalition's support. Before his return to government, his last role was as an advisor to the Bahraini monarchy. For just three days of work at the end of July, he earned up to 30,000 euros, according to the investigative journal Mediapart.
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