Roux de Bézieux, chief of the employers’ organisation, finally announced, on Friday, the cancellation of her presence at the round table. “Given the political interpretation that is being made of the draft debate on the rise of populism, I decided to delete it altogether. So there will be no RN interveners or LFI stakeholders,” he wrote on Twitter.
The former National Rally deputy of Vaucluse, Maréchal was “solicited” to participate in the event in late August. But the invitation extended to Marion Maréchal was harshly criticised by several Macronistas.
The outcries quickly followed after the Medef trade union invited Maréchal to participate in its summer university in late August, renamed as the Meeting of Entrepreneurs of France (REF). The move was denounced several political figures of LREM, President Macron’s party.
Some 250 people had been solicited to participate in panel discussions as representatives of all the current political groupings, from the leftist France Insoumise to Marion Maréchal.
The latter was among the people “who have been solicited,” confirmed the trade union intially, adding: “Since 2012, all parties have been heard by the Medef before the various European or national polls. Marine Le Pen has also participated in a discussion in 2017 about the presidential elections like all other candidates.”
But Laurence Parisot, former president of Medef, denounced the invitation. “If this information is accurate, it is very serious,” he said on Twitter. As a reminder, the latter had said, in April 2017, that he would be ready to occupy the post of Prime Minister if Emmanuel Macron became President of the Republic.
LREM MP Olivia Grégoire also complained about the “dangerous provocation”. She said she would be boycotting the event if Maréchal attended.
Other Macronista deputies, Roland Lescure, president of the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, and Coralie Dubost, echoed the sentiment. “She [Maréchal] has not been elected. And I’m not sure that her small business deserves so much honor. If the Medef confirms this invitation, it will be without me,” Lescure said on Twitter. “Boycott for me too,” Dubost said.
These reactions also come in the wake of Marion Maréchal’s dinner with about fifteen elected Republicans (LR) recently.
The famous “union of rightwingers” advocated by many since the implosion of the LR during the European elections, appears to carry some weight. According to French daily Le Figaro, a dinner was organised between Marion Maréchal and about fifteen elected representatives and Republican parliamentarians.
Members of the political bureau of LR gathered, on Tuesday, June 25 in the evening at a restaurant in the 9th district of Paris, the Bouclier de Bacchus.
This dinner was held to “be able to debate important current affairs” according to one of the guests, MP Xavier Breton. “An interesting approach” he said, since “in the political moment in which we are, these exchanges are necessary.
“We can not continue to bunkerize in our political parties. To fall back on ourselves would be the worst thing,” he told Le Figaro. This dinner was also a way to try to stop the defection of many elected Republicans, who had left the party to join Emmanuel Macron.
“I prefer to talk with Marion Maréchal,” said Sébastien Pilard. “To rebuild the right, we must put everyone around the table. Marion Maréchal has her place,” he said.