“The constitutional ambiguity would block decision-making,” said Landot.
No holds barred
Since the election of dozens of National Rally lawmakers in the last parliamentary election, the far-right lawmakers have been far from wreckers, refraining from the filibustering and noisy heckling favored by the far-left France Unbowed party. At times, Macron’s centrists were embarrassed by National Rally MPs who regularly voted in favor of government bills.
But as the hard right gets closer to power, the gloves are off.
Europe, an area where the National Rally and Macron’s europhiles have polar opposite views about sovereignty, is set to become a central battleground.
Macron and France’s wannabe prime minister, Bardella, are already fighting over who will get to name the commissioner. Bardella has said his party he was “exploring” names to put forward.
And it’s not clear who gets the last word. According to EU treaties, it’s the ministers of the 27 EU countries who propose the list of commissioners, which would give Bardella a say. However, the commissioners need to be accepted by the president of the Commission and confirmed by the European Council, where Macron sits.
On Macron’s role as commander-in-chief, Le Pen has since clarified she wasn’t “challenging the reserved domain” of the president.
She is, however, delivering a clear warning shot against an already-weakened president.