At the Socialist Summer Campus in Blois, François Hollande Plays the Referee in a Crisis Context

Some are standing up against Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to appoint Lucie Castets to Matignon, others are being more… diplomatic. In recent days, two currents have been opposing each other within the Socialist Party. And the party’s summer universities, which open this Thursday in Blois, should help shed more light on the matter.

Will the pro-cohabitations, like the former minister Bernard Cazeneuve or the president of the Occitanie region Carole Delga, and those who prefer to cut short any negotiations with the Élysée, like the first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure, bury the hatchet and avoid implosion? The truce between the two camps remains very fragile, but should hold until the end of the summer days of the Socialist Party.

A clear line

François Hollande is the first to calm tensions. The former head of state rejects an alliance with the central bloc, now a socialist MP for Corrèze. He advocates for the appointment of Lucie Castets to Matignon and to silence rumors of a break within the pink house, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, Olivier Faure’s main opponent, clarifies his position with regard to Emmanuel Macron. “We will not serve as a guarantor, will not be the auxiliaries or the guarantor of the extension of Macronism. And there is a bloc that came out on top, it is the left. It is not Emmanuel Macron, it is not the extreme right either,” he declared.

The official line of the Socialist Party remains that of Olivier Faure and therefore of the New Popular Front. That is to say, no exchange with Emmanuel Macron as long as he refuses to appoint Lucie Castets to Matignon. “If we remain united, she can have a second chance,” hopes a socialist deputy. Except that today, the possibility of seeing PS elected officials give in to the sirens of Macronism is very real.