Emmanuel Macron’s European minister, Clément Beaune, is at the heart of a brutal political battle in Paris this weekend as the French centrist government tries to win a parliamentary majority against a new left-wing alliance.
Beaune, 40, seen as a rising star in the Macron Circle, helped shape the French president’s pro-European policy – influenced by his international student days in Dublin and Belgium – and put pressure on the Kingdom. United during the post-Brexit fishing rights dispute last year. .
But now the career official is running in his first election career, running as a Member of Parliament in a constituency in Paris that stretches from tourist attractions and gay bars in the Marais district to the gentrified streets and social housing in the east. It is seen as one of the defining political battles of Macron’s second term.
Opposing Beaune is Caroline Mécary, 59, one of France’s leading same-sex equality lawyers and a well-known LGBTQ + rights activist, who represents the new alliance of Beaune. left. An Ifop poll in early June showed that Mécary was close to Beaune by 51%.
If Beaune wins, he will become one of the center-left’s top hitters in the French cabinet and could one day run for mayor of Paris. If he loses he will have to leave the government.
Lawyer Caroline Mécary represents the new left-wing alliance. Photo: Reuters
Newly elected President Macron needs a majority for his broad centrist grouping in the parliamentary elections twice this month to have a free hand in his plans to reform the pension and benefit system and reduce taxes.
But the left-wing alliance, led by the radical left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, which includes the Greens and the Socialist Party, has been rising in the polls, seeking to limit Macron’s leadership. Without an absolute majority of 289 in the 577-seat chamber, the French president may have to seek alliances on the right. Pollsters predict that the left could occupy up to 205 seats, making it the largest opposition force, with Marine Le Pen’s far right potentially occupying 20 to 50 seats.
Macron has launched a fierce last-minute offensive against the left-wing alliance, describing Mélenchon as a dangerous extremist who would kill the European Union, ally with Russia and increase “global disorder”. Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire called Mélenchon the “Gaul Chávez”, referring to the former Venezuelan leader. “Is this man eating children?” asked the left-wing newspaper Libération on its front page, criticizing the government’s attacks on Mélenchon.
During the election campaign, Beaune said at a meeting in the assembly hall of a school in east Paris that these were “the most important French parliamentary elections in 40 years because they are uncertain and divisive.” He said there was “strong anger” among some voters and a “strong sense of disinterest” in others. Pollsters predict that less than half of the French electorate will go to the polls.
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Beaune said Mélenchon’s political agenda, including a policy of circumventing certain rules of European treaties, was “dangerous, absurd and excessive.” But what really worried him, he said, was that the political debate was becoming “increasingly radicalized”, “divisive” and “brutal” and now needed “calm”.
Historically, the central Paris constituency voted left-wing before choosing a pro-Macron centrist candidate five years ago, but some supporters warned Beaune that there was opposition on the ground for Macron to raise his retirement age. .
A campaign poster for Clement Beaune. Photo: Reuters
Beaune has presented herself as a Social Democrat advocating for equality. He stated that he was gay in a French magazine in 2020, saying that “it was not an obstacle” to be in government, and also spoke of members of his Jewish family who were deported to Auschwitz. His father, a former medical professor at the hospital, helped him with the election pamphlet.
Beaune’s opponent, Mécary, has led a fierce grassroots campaign, especially east of Paris. A former member of the pro-European Greens who served as a councilor in Paris, she has never been a member of Mélenchon’s hard-left party, France Unbowed. She calls herself “mostly a lawyer and a civil society candidate.” But he intends to take advantage of Mélenchon’s support in the presidential election, when he narrowly lost a place in the second round, which pitted Macron against Le Pen.
In a pamphlet at a market near the Bastille, Mécary said: “What I feel about voters on the ground is a desire for change and for Macron not to have all the power in his hands in parliament. People are worried about hospitals. and schools and to protect the public service. They feel that Macron does not see or hear the citizens of the working class. “
Visiting the market stalls with two decidedly European members of the Socialist Party, Mécary refuted Beaune’s claims that she was anti-European. “When Clément Beaune was five years old, I graduated from the Sorbonne with a degree in European law,” he said.
“It will be very close around here,” a retired hospital worker said at a fruit stall. “I voted for Macron as president just to avoid the far right. Now I will vote for the left to send a message to Macron: protect hospitals and schools, not just govern for the rich.”