French political life seemed to be coordinated with Météo France this May: a shady situation, with inverted landmarks bringing rain to the south and sun to the north. This month has been a skilful mix of democratic alerts, partisan turpitudes (Affaire Bétharram, Proposition de loi fin de vie, elections at Les Républicains, silence from the RN...) and shadow games at the Assembly. A short tour of a political life that moves forward in spite of itself.
Macron speaks again at 8pm (at Le Français), but seems better at Versailles.
Three hours of television, a presidential setting worthy of the name, and in the end... a France that still seems doubtful. Emmanuel Macron took to the airwaves like a crusader, but perhaps without a map or a compass. Defending the Republic, appeals for unity, a referendum: everything was done to reconnect with the French, except the essential: that little grain of surprise that made him such a success, but which seems difficult to reproduce after 8 years of reign. So why now? Why so long? And above all, why hasn't anyone really understood what he meant? A head of state in search of meaning facing a country in search of landmarks: the meeting was missed. Again. Pity.
But make no mistake about it: when it comes to attracting foreign investors, the President is back to his best. The 2025 edition of Choose France was a brilliantly played score: record figures, rousing announcements, well-placed handshakes. The VRP of the start-up nation has lost none of his talent - for selling France internationally. It's just a pity that the domestic audience is entitled to the long version without subtitles.
Renaissance: splintered centrism and right-wing decomplexity
Meanwhile, the presidential majority looks more and more like a Spanish inn - without the conviviality. Gérald Darmanin plays hardball the old-fashioned way in Guyanne, Gabriel Attal proposes banning the veil for minors under 15, proposing a security line that would make Sarkozy 2007 shudder, while Élisabeth Borne, stoic, tries to reaffirm a moderate social course. The result: a fractured parliamentary group and a presidential party that continues to search for coherence. The central bloc teeters between authority and empathy, order and openness. Which floor serves the right dish?
RN: the winning machine... starting to jam?
Following Marine Le Pen's conviction in the European parliamentary assistants affair, the RN seems to be oscillating between cold fury and selective sorting of ambitions. Jordan Bardella is slowly but surely establishing himself as plan B turned plan A. As 2027 approaches, will the vision of plan A clash with plan B? Will the RN, by dint of trying to reassure everyone, run the risk of no longer looking like much of anything? Or will it enable it, as in 2017 with La République en Marche, to be a catch-all party that will enable it to win? Too pro-system for the ultras? too fuzzy for the moderates? Will the strong party in the ballot box manage to win by remaining moderate on ideas.
LR: Retailleau crowned, Wauquiez rejected
It's the end of the road for the big cats: Bruno Retailleau has won. With a sense of tempo inherited from the old senatorial right, he has beaten Laurent Wauquiez to the punch, although his heavy defeat should weigh heavily on his personal ambitions for 2027. Retailleau reassures the old cadres, worries the ambitious youngsters and offers LR a figure of seriousness in the midst of a storm. Not enough to set off an ola on TikTok, but enough to revive a dynamic?
Parliament: the legislative tide
At the French National Assembly, the month of May has been one of rising tides, with a flurry of bills, exhausted committees and guaranteed sleepless nights. The bill on the end of life has triggered moral confrontations of a rare intensity, while the law on the simplification of economic life is lost in a jungle of amendments prolonging a review (still not completed to date) at a pace that is, to say the least, choppy. If the Fifth Republic were a streaming platform, we'd be in season 9: nobody understands the script any more, but everyone continues to play their part. Is democratic fatigue beginning to set in, with François Bayrou as its main incarnation? Political life is going round and round in circles.