The second round of French elections this weekend will not mark the end of Macron as president, nor will it be the end of his MPs in the National Assembly. But the radical centrist movement that carried him to power – on a neither left-nor-right mantra – is no more.
What happens now? Macron’s potential successors are deeply divided. Edouard Philippe, former prime minister, Bruno Le Maire, a finance minister and Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, all want to rebuild from the centre-right. Gabriel Attal, the prime minister, wants to anchor it on the centre-left. All of them seem to have turned the page on Macron already.
All of these backroom deals and electoral pacts may prove to be too clever by half
But none of them incorporate Macron’s vision any longer. None are capable of provoking the left and the right (like Macron did) in order to rule from the centre. Without Macron’s tactical skills or an ideological underpinning, there is not much there to hold the party together once its founder leaves the political scene.
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