Cécile Duflot: "MPs must engage in dialogue and refuse to allow the far right to take power"

It has been three years now since there has been a majority in the Assembly , a year since the President of the Republic dissolved it with all that that implied so that there would be a new majority and there still isn't one.

This is democracy, the French voted and they voted with a very clear message, they didn't want the National Rally to have power, that was the essential message. Except that then, they didn't give the key to anyone and the President persists in believing that we will be able to do as he wants.

He should admit that he was wrong, that it's not working. I think everyone should be a little more modest, a little more calm, and try to tell themselves that we're not going to wait a year and a half without governing France and without making decisions.

But then what do we do? We talk to each other! Because if there is a dissolution, or even a dismissal of the President, or a resignation, who is to say that it won't start again the same way? What do we do in this country if the National Assembly doesn't have a majority that serves the President?

This has happened twice, we have to find a way to do things differently, politicians have to learn to tell themselves that we must be able to try, at least during the next year and a half, to agree on a certain number of priorities.

We can't say 'We're going to buy Canadaires', then the following year 'no', before having the biggest fire (in Aude this summer, editor's note) for 50 years. There are issues, the climate, social justice, we can really feel the tension in this country with what's rising on September 10 and 18, where we can say, let's take a moment, not everyone will be satisfied, but we have a point of agreement on priorities that allow us to ensure that this country moves forward.

I have a strange background. I worked in the private sector for ten years, then I went into politics, and now I'm in an NGO. What I see is what's happening in the world around us, which is to say that we are still under the threat of difficult situations. The plane of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was more or less attacked by the Russians; we are in a singularly complicated situation. There is a war situation in Ukraine, and there is the absolutely intolerable and unbearable situation that continues in Gaza.

There are a number of countries that have changed their minds, and we must be able to say that in this situation, France, which is both a large and a small country, must be able to put people together in a room to talk. This means that no one is going to win over everyone.

François Bayrou saying 'It's me or chaos,' doesn't work because no one believes it anymore. A year ago, if we didn't have a budget, we had to stop having a health insurance card; that doesn't work anymore. The reality is that billionaires have gotten incredibly rich, while the poor have gotten poorer. France loves equality; it's in our motto and it's in the history of the French Revolution. I think we really need to be able to create this discussion and find points of agreement. We can't stay like this, with everyone making little tactical moves while waiting for next month.

I think that all those in the National Assembly who were elected by people who were not necessarily from their political family must sit down at the table. They must sit down at the table and engage in dialogue based on a very simple principle: to refuse to allow the far right to take power. That's how they became MPs.