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Macron faces first signs of rebellion among movement that swept him to power

Six months after riding his own political movement to power in a sensational upset for French politics, President Emmanuel Macron faces the first signs of rebellion in his party.

Published: 15 November 2017 16:02 CET

Macron faces first signs of rebellion among movement that swept him to power

Photo: AFP

The 39-year-old leader pulled off what few thought possible by creating a pro-Europe centrist movement from scratch in April 2016 and then sweeping presidential and parliamentary elections just over a year later.

But even senior figures of the Republic on the Move (LREM) admit that, having tasted glory over the summer with a membership of some 350,000, the party has stagnated since.

Worse, after widespread grumbling in private, a small group of 100 followers went public this week with an open resignation letter that claimed the party was consumed by political games and “courtesanship”.

One former En Marche founder who was quitting the movement described it as a “sect”.

The anonymous rebels said that LREM was guilty of “contempt and arrogance”, had frozen out its community-level members and was aping the methods of the “old world” of politics. “Democracy is not On the Move,” it said.

The letter, first published by the France Info radio station on Tuesday, was timed to coincide with a party congress at the weekend where Macron's handpicked favourite Christophe Castaner is set to be named new LREM leader.

Castaner, a government spokesman who has spoken of his “love” for the president, is standing unopposed in a vote set to be dominated by national
party bigwigs — not grassroots members of what Macron calls a “citizens' movement”.

(En Marche's MPs. AFP)

Growing pains?

The ructions in LREM are one of a number of challenges faced by the young head of state who needs the party as a support base as he battles opponents on many fronts, including angry trade unionists opposed to his agenda.

It will also be vital for Macron at the local and regional level in France, where upcoming elections for mayors and councils offer him the chance to push
his pro-business agenda to “transform” France.

LREM, launched simply as En Marche (On the Move) in April 2016, was a hugely effective electoral force with its thousands of volunteers who knocked on doors, flocked to rallies and distributed leaflets.

Many were drawn to Macron's promise to do politics differently, including his pledge to put “kindness” at the heart of his agenda, while local committees were invited to brainstorm and contribute to the party's manifesto.

But once the former investment banker entered office in May, the tight-knit team behind En Marche's success — political aides all in their 20s and 30s — headed to new jobs in ministries or the presidential staff.

Many volunteers returned to their day jobs, or simply took a break after months of exhausting work.

One leading LREM campaigner in Paris told AFP that the party was barely functioning.

“If you ask for help, they don't offer anything. The telephone switchboard doesn't even work properly at headquarters,” she said, asking not to be named because of fears the criticism could harm her standing.

An article in the magazine L'Opinion this week looking at the movement's growing pains was headlined: “Republic on the Move goes through a teenage crisis”.

'Complicated'

LREM parliamentarian Jean-Christophe Moreau, a former farmer who is one of dozens of MPs who benefited from Macron's drive to bring outsiders into politics, admits that “obviously since the elections, it's been complicated.”

“The priority now is to have a clear political line,” he said in an interview in his office at parliament where lawmakers were busy voting on a new tax-cutting budget aimed at stimulating business.

He and others hope that the smooth-talking Castaner (pictured above right), a former Socialist MP who sided early with Macron during his presidential bid, can help revive the lost momentum on the ground.

The open letter by the LREM rebels claimed that “local committees have emptied” since the elections — something seen as a worry by other members who have spoken to AFP and other French media this week.

Castaner's uncontested “election” this weekend will give the party head a new focus, but the opaque process that led to his nomination has left some
activists worried about a lack of internal democracy.

“If things are very centralised, then you can get the impression that we're just here to apply decisions made higher up and people will get disappointed,” warned Patrick Bernard, an LREM organiser in the rural Creuse region.

But he believes new initiatives like a skills training platform for volunteers and new community projects for members will help regenerate enthusiasm.

“We need to give ourselves a new identity,” he said.

by AFP's Adam Plowright

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.