Philippe is attempting to unite moderates from the centre to the right, but is meeting with resistance or finding people undecided.

Paris. Édouard Philippe gave it a go: he proposed that all leaders of the French centre and moderate right meet in early November to seek common ground and agree on a joint candidacy ahead of next year’s presidential election, in order to avoid presenting a divided front and leaving the field open to the extremes. But the initiative by the former prime minister and leader of Horizons found no support; on the contrary, it further exacerbated tensions amongst the centrist contenders to succeed Emmanuel Macron. “When you invite people, you must have the legitimacy to do so. You cannot simply say: ‘I am the unifier’,” commented François Bayrou, former Prime Minister and leader of the MoDem, yesterday on BFM TV. In his view, the only solution to break the deadlock is to organise primaries, open to a “broad democratic, republican, reformist and humanist spectrum”, ranging from the centre-left to the Gaullists. Bruno Retailleau, leader of Les Républicains, also responded with a flat “no”. For the leader of the Gaullist party, the November meeting would be nothing more than “a meeting for Macronists and amongst Macronists”, and the Republican right, according to the former Minister of the Interior, cannot win by trying to prolong the Macron era. David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes and a rising figure on the liberal right who leads the Nouvelle Énergie party, dismissed Philippe’s idea as “an agreement amongst the establishment”.

Then there is Gabriel Attal, the president of Renaissance, who does not formally say ‘no’, but neither does he say ‘yes’, because the priority is to speak to the French people, to understand their aspirations and what they want for the country; as there are meetings between parties every month, this will not be yet another one to resolve the issue of the candidate. Behind Attal’s diplomatic caution also lies his rivalry with Philippe, who enjoys better poll ratings and, according to various scenarios, is the only centrist capable of reaching the run-off against the Rassemblement National candidate Marine Le Pen, who is now certain to make it to the second round. Attal has no interest in acknowledging Philippe’s role as the architect of the process that should lead to a single candidate: for now, therefore, he is playing for time. Philippe aims to build a broad coalition from the top down, bringing together prominent figures, local councillors and members of various political factions. On Tuesday, he convened his political committee, which had been expanded to include figures from the right-wing wing of Renaissance, with Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin and other ministers among those present. The plan is clear: to build up sufficient political momentum around his own candidacy to gradually render those of others superfluous, without having to undergo the primaries loudly called for by Bayrou and Lisnard (Attal has not ruled them out). The battle for the centre is also a consequence of Macron’s refusal to address the issue of his succession.

Attal, as leader of Renaissance, claims continuity with the presidential camp, but is simultaneously attempting to distance himself from Macron and present himself as something different, even though no one has yet grasped what ‘Attalism’ actually is. Philippe, who was the first head of government during the Macron era, chose some time ago to forge his own identity and is now seeking to establish himself as the rallying point for a broader centre, extending as far as the republican right. Bayrou claims an independent stance and challenges Philippe’s very legitimacy to assume the role of unifier. Meanwhile, Retailleau’s Gaullist right regards the whole operation as an attempt to perpetuate Macronism under a different name. There is also considerable unease in Brussels over the absence of a centrist candidate capable of uniting everyone. This is because a victory for Marine Le Pen or Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the 2027 presidential elections could have disastrous consequences for the European Union. An EU official told Politico that there are two openly pro-European candidates in the running for the Élysée: Gabriel Attal and the centre-left MEP Raphaël Glucksmann. “Philippe is pro-European, but not with great fervour,” said the official, highlighting the difficulties, at present, of keeping voters focused on European issues. The election campaign is in its early stages and Brussels is hoping that the French electorate will become aware of the risks a victory for Le Pen or Mélenchon would pose to the European project as the elections draw nearer.