The appointment of Michel Barnier as Prime Minister clarified the situation. The Nouveau Front Populaire is now in opposition. This also applies to the 6 deputies from La Reunion Island elected under this label. Unless they are part of a parliamentary group that decides to leave the Nouveau Front Populaire to join the majority formed by the presidential movement and Les Républicains MPs.
There was no shortage of reactions to Emmanuel Macron’s choice on La Réunion. All those that were massively circulated showed a disconnect with the concerns of the population: mass unemployment, youth exile, lack of housing, unacceptable prices, inequality, wages too low for the cost of living, not to mention illiteracy.
It was a question of “democratic denial” and “disrespect for the will of the electorate”, emanating from the camp that took the New Popular Front label in the last legislative elections. However, the appointment of the Prime Minister was made in accordance with the rules laid down in the Constitution and in the spirit of the 5th Republic: the Head of State chooses his Prime Minister with the support of the largest possible majority.

French law applied: LR-Presidential coalition stronger than New Popular Front

Michel Barnier’s choice means that the coalition of the LR and Mouvance présidentielle groups is the strongest force in the National Assembly, ahead of the Nouveau Front populaire. It could even be strengthened by deputies who are still LR, but who preferred to betray De Gaulle for a plate of lentils by rallying to the extreme right. Guided by the same opportunism, some of them could join the new majority. On the far-right side, their deputy from La Reunion has reiterated the line: wait and see. This means that the Barnier government could benefit from an abstention from the far-right parliamentary group.
This means that the Nouveau Front Populaire will not be able to prevent the vote on a text carried by the government, and that it will not be able to apply the program it proposed to the electorate during the election campaign. This is the consequence of the impossibility of extending the relative majority obtained on the evening of July 7.
This also applies to the 6 deputies from Reunion elected under the same label.

The Reunionese Communist Party raises the debate

Among the reactions to the appointment of the new Prime Minister, one was deliberately overshadowed by the media, which believes itself to be dominant on La Reunion Island: that of the Reunionese Communist Party. And yet, it reminded us of the only possibility for La Reunion’s MPs to be useful to their country: to defend in the National Assembly the idea of financial and institutional support from the French State for a reunionese development project. This project is intended to be built and proposed by the reunionese to Paris. It must form the basis of a new relationship between the former colonial power and the former colony still under the yoke of neo-colonialism, responsible for La Réunion Island’s underdevelopment in many sectors.

In the footsteps of Raymond Vergès and Léon de Lépervanche?

Such a project can only transcend political affiliations in Paris. It follows on from the abolition of colonial status on March 19, 1946, which paved the way for full citizenship for the Reunionese. At that time, two MPs from La Reunion Island, Raymond Vergès and Léon de Lépervanche, seized the opportunity to obtain the unanimous support of the National Assembly for the abolition of colonial status in La Reunion.
The MPs from La Reunion elected on July 7 did not require as much. A majority may suffice, but the larger the better.
So, by supporting a cross-party project and mobilizing their colleagues, they have the opportunity to advance the cause of the Réunionese.

Overcoming emotion

This is the only reason why MPs from La Reunion Island should be present in the French National Assembly. Why wasting time voting against texts that will be adopted anyway, standing up in front of the cameras to oppose them without having any chance of implementing the program of the group to which one has decided to belong?
Rather than wasting time crying “democratic denial”, wouldn’t it be more useful for the population if these MPs went beyond the moment of emotion and did the only thing that has a chance of succeeding during their term of office: putting French Parliament to vote for the reunionese project.

M.M.