🇫🇷COVID Case Dropped as Macron's Centrists Fracture
Philippe, Buzyn & Véran cleared on COVID governance, EU discuss Hungary Article 7 procedure, Fesneau accuses centre of betraying Macronism, Attal distances himself from Retailleau and defends veil ban
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This week
⚖️Philippe, Buzyn & Véran cleared on COVID governance
🇪🇺EU Council to discuss Hungary Article 7 procedure
🥊Marc Fesneau accuses centre of betraying Macronism
🙅Attal distances Renaissance from Retailleau, defends veil ban for children
⚖️Philippe, Buzyn & Véran cleared on COVID governance
Right, let’s start the week off with some big news.
As long-term readers of The French Dispatch will remember that back in October 2022, we outlined the legal issues that former-PM and Presidential Hopeful, Edouard Philippe, former Minister of Social Affairs and Health Agnès Buzyn, and former Minister of Solidarity and Health Olivier Véran.
At the heart of it all were accusations regarding the way in which the French government’s actions in response to COVID-19 potentially endangered the lives of French citizens, and represented an abstention in fighting a disaster.
This is why led to Philippe, Buzyn, and Véran to be placed under the status of assisted witnesses.
However, this Tuesday brought good news to all three of the individuals, with the Court of Justice of the Republic requesting a dismissal of the case against all three of them. This means that a potential trial, which was hoped for by many of their political opponents, is further away than ever.
Explaining the decision, public prosecutor Rémy Heitz had this to say:
“The investigations establish that many initiatives have been taken by the government to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, preventing the offence of voluntary abstention from fighting a disaster from being constituted against Edouard Philippe and Olivier Véran”
Turning to Agnès Buzyn, she had already been hit fairly hard with accusations that she had abdicated her position during the crisis in order to run as a candidate for the mayoralty of Paris.
She had also been indicted for endangering the lives of others back in September 2021. However, this had been annulled by the Court of Justice of the Republic in 2023 due to there being no text or law that justified this decision.
And to add to this, this decision by the public prosecutors office clarified the timeline of Buzyn quitting her post, highlighting that her resignation on February 16 took place before the COVID-19 pandemic had kicked off.
As the first COVID-19 victim died on February 25 2020, and there was no disaster yet declared in France, Buzyn’s resignation on February 16 2020 could not be considered an abdication of her duty in government.
However, this doesn’t mean that the COVID-19 response isn’t serving as a lesson for everyone, with the memory of the lack of protective equipment for caregivers and citizens still being fresh in everyone’s memories, as well as the confused messaging regarding mask utility.
While the processes surrounding the pandemic slowly wrap up, you can be sure that this will still continue to play a role in French public life, regardless of the ways in which the law absolves or condemns individuals
🇪🇺EU Council to discuss Hungary Article 7 procedure
So, to bring up something that a few of you may have missed:
In what could very well be a pivotal moment for EU governance, the EU’s General Affairs Council will discuss the long-standing Article 7 proceedings against Hungary this coming Tuesday.
Initiated in 2018, the procedure had been stalled due to Hungary's alliance with Poland, who had also been under an Article 7 procedure until recently, and led to both member states providing mutual protection against such sanctions.
However, the political landscape has shifted with Poland's change of leadership, removing a significant barrier to advancing the proceedings, and you can read all about it here:
🇪🇺EU Council to Discuss Escalating Article 7 Proceedings Against Hungary Over Rule of Law Breaches
In what promises to be one of the more contentious meetings of the General Affairs Council (GAC) in 2025, the European Union is once again preparing to confront the long-term concerns regarding Hungarian compliance with the rule of law.
🥊Marc Fesneau accuses centre of betraying Macronism
Speaking to La Tribune yesterday, Marc Fesneau (MoDem) took the time to tackle the “prevailing demagoguery” and the “one-upmanship” that had taken over the Central bloc in the Assemblée, and accused his colleagues of betraying the values of Macronism.
The acting president of the MoDem group in the Assemblée Nationale, and close to current Prime Minister François Bayrou, he was questioned by La Tribune Dimanche regarding the increasingly harsh proposals and pronouncements being made by Renaissance Secretary General, Gabriel Attal, Horizons leader, Edouard Philippe, or the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin.
He criticised the “growing one-upmanship” that he believe is “not legally bounded, since it is often not in accordance with the European framework or our constitutional law” and instead, “stigmatizes, antagonizes, [and] fractures” French society.
“We come to carry the speeches, theses, proposals of the right, even the far right. But that's not the centre! This is not the adventure we wanted to build with Emmanuel Macron in 2017,”
- Marc Fesneau on 24 May 2025
Calling this “a form of betrayal of the initial promise of balance, of unity, of reconciliation”, the member of the coalition since 2017 criticised the fact that all members of the centre are focusing entirely on their political ambitions for 2027:
“Personal interests in view of 2027 invite excess. Let's not forget: the French still prefer originals to copies … At the end we give the point on the one hand to the RN, which can say 'you can see that I was right', and on the other hand to LFI, which can say 'you can see that they are on the far right'”
He caps off the interview with a slightly hopeful note, where he indicates that his party, and several allied deputies, are planning to fight against this kind of discussion and activity.
Defiantly, he states that “[they] will not let this happen,” arguing that “within the central bloc, many express doubts” and launching a call to action towards these colleagues.
“Let's be numerous to bring everyone to their senses. Because the prevailing demagoguery is toxic."
But can the MoDem really have much of an impact on this?
Currently, out of the 210 deputies that form the governing coalition of the centre, there are only 36 deputies that form the ‘Les Démocrates’ group, compared to the 94 deputies in the ‘Ensemble pour la République’ grouping led by Renaissance.
Adding to the complexity, the MoDem’s grouping is dwarfed by both the right-wing ‘Droite Republicaine’ group’s 47 deputies, led by Les Republicains, who are linked to the 33 ‘Horizons and independents’ deputies.
Totally at only 17.1% of the total number of centrist deputies, and 6.2% of the total deputies of the Assemblée Nationale, there is naturally a lot of scepticism about whether Fesneau and his allies will be able to have any impact on the increasingly aggressive move towards the demagogue politics that he criticises.
🙅Attal distances Renaissance from Retailleau, defends veil ban for children
Despite these criticisms from Fesneau, the Renaissance party is not necessarily as close to Horizons or Les Républicains, and on the same day as the MoDem leader’s interview, former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal came out swinging in Le Parisien under the shadow of Retailleau’s report on Islamist Entryism in France.
Ahead of a ‘convention on sovereign issues’ that is taking place on Monday, 26 May, he touched on several of his political positions, notably the proposed ban on banning young girls under the age of 15 from wearing the veil.
Pushing back on criticisms on the constitutional feasibility of the ban, he argued that the exact same arguments had been made regarding the 2004 ban on the veil in schools, the 2009 ban on the burqa, and the 2023 ban on the abaya, yet these had all been successfully implemented.
He also defended that the current proposal, as well as the others, by arguing that they’re driven by a need to protect the Republic against those who want to “destabilise” the Republic, as well as a need to “build a protective bubble around children. To protect them from violence, social networks, harassment, attacks on their mental health, indoctrination.”
When the journalist reminded him of President Emmanuel Macron’s criticisms of Marine Le Pen’s proposal to ban the veil in public spaces, and his accusation that she wanted to launch a civil war, he highlighted a clear distinction between the positions:
While Marine Le Pen wanted to ban veils totally, Attal’s proposal was to ban it up to the age of 15, at which stage the individuals would be able to wear the veil as they wish.
“I myself was and remains opposed to this proposal from the RN. When one does not disturb public order, when one does not encroach on the freedom of others, one must be free to exercise one's religion. So a woman who freely decides to wear the veil must be able to do so. But where is the freedom of an 8 or 9-year-old child who is forced to veil herself? This is why I do not identify with Bruno Retailleau's words when he says "down with the veil".”
- Attal responding to a Le Parisien journalist’s question on his veil ban, 24 May 2025
When further pressed on the fact that Muslim’s could feel attacked by his proposals, regardless of his justifications, he argued that the saying “La République, toute la République, rien que la République” also included Muslims.
“This means that everyone must be protected, regardless of their religion. Our fellow Muslims are also the target of attacks. A few weeks ago, I was one of the only national politicians to solemnly support them in the hemicycle after the assassination of Aboubacar Cissé in a mosque.”
He also argued against the notion that he was chasing after newly elected Les Républicains president and minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, highlighting that the Abaya ban was done without the LR, and that the convention on sovereign issues has been planned for four months now.
“Our defence of the Republic against entryism is fortunately not new.”
To cap off the interesting interview, which is worth a subscription with Le Parisien, he further distances himself from Les Republicains by arguing that their goal to reinforce authority in the French republic, and that the topic has nothing to do with right or left, but with what is right.
He also goes as far as declaring that Retailleau’s Les Republicains are “no longer a pro-European party,” whereas this is the basis of Renaissance and their politics.
He criticises Les Republicain for choosing a political line “that opposes the constitutionalization of abortion, votes against the ban on conversion therapy for homosexuals and rejects any change on the end of life,” highlighting that is, for all intents and purposes, “a conservative party.”
Finally, he justifies the position of Renaissance within a government that also includes Retailleau and the LR with a simple fact that many people regularly forget:
“There is no choice. Because without this there is no stable government for France. It is a coalition in which we coexist.”
The interview goes into depth into the discussions on the defence of the civic space, pushing his support for municipal police with more presence and powers, the use of the security apparatus that was developed and deployed around the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and both the enhanced reforms and enforcement of sentences related to crimes.
He also goes into interesting details on the plans to battle recidivism with stronger reintegration of prisoners, as well as new immigration laws at a time when French trust in the justice and immigration systems is at an all-time low.
and naturally, he tackles his political opponent for 2027, Edouard Philippe, by pointing out that Philippe has been complaining, while Attal’s Renaissance have been proposing solutions.
How the convention goes this Monday is anyone’s guess, and we’ll need to wait and see how all of this will develop. What will also be interesting is how the growing war of words will fracture the current government, and lead to increased difficulties in the lead up to the 2027 presidential elections.
If Attal and Philippe continue to actively take chunks out of each other and attack each other’s politics, then the chances of a continued centrist coalition will likely be smaller than necessary to hold the current line.
This could lead to a new centre-right coalition that could challenge the ongoing political situation in France, and could very well lead to the kind of conflict that would put the road to either far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon, or Le Pen’s current successor, Jordan Bardella.
Hélas, that’s politics, and we’ll need to wait and see what happens. At least Emmanuel Macron sent Attal a birthday card.
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Regardsless of political parties, it seems that etatisme is the most popular ideology x)