After Matignon, high school students at the Élysée: order does not exempt the government from addressing the causes

On Thursday 22 October, Sébastien Lecornu had promised "transparency" about the violence of 17 October. Almost three hours of meeting later, party leaders left Matignon with very different feelings. Two days before a new day of protest, this meeting says a great deal about how the executive intends to get out of the crisis.

The facts

According to Public Sénat, the meeting took place from about 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm, in the presence of Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, and senior officials from the intelligence services and law enforcement. Almost every party was represented: LFI, PS, Place publique, the Ecologists, PCF, Horizons, LR and RN. The latter had sent Edwige Diaz and Louis Aliot, as Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella had declined the invitation.

The agenda covered the sequence of the violence, security for upcoming marches and for the presidential campaign. According to Public Sénat, participants were notably given a presentation of the French doctrine of public order policing. Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon had set the line in the Council of Ministers briefing, reported by Acteurs publics: the priority is a "return to republican order".

No formal announcement came out of the meeting itself. The day's measures came from elsewhere: after a security council at the Élysée, the head of state indicated that only union-organised demonstrations would be authorised on Saturday. And according to AFP, as reported by L'essentiel, Emmanuel Macron receives representatives of high school student organisations and of the academic councils of high school life this Friday at 3 pm, to "listen to their demands and concerns". Sébastien Lecornu, for his part, is due to bring together high school, student, teacher, union and employer organisations, as well as elected officials, on Monday.

The positions

On the left, disappointment prevails. Fabien Roussel (PCF) said he was "extremely disappointed" by a meeting he described as "technical", according to Public Sénat, and recalled that the causes of the anger had to be addressed, starting with the cost of living. Marine Tondelier (Ecologists) summed up her state of mind with one phrase:

Who are they kidding? — Marine Tondelier, quoted by Public Sénat

Raphaël Glucksmann (Place publique) says he came with political proposals and was told that this was "not the framework". Manuel Bompard (LFI) believes the meeting made the country waste time. Before going in, as LCP reported, LFI had sent a letter to the Prime Minister calling in particular for the repeal of Parcoursup, an increase in the minimum wage and 10 billion euros to meet the demands of high school and university students.

On the right, the emphasis is on responsibility for the violence. Christophe Béchu (Horizons) came, according to Public Sénat, to express his support for law enforcement and believes that unreserved condemnation of violence must come before any political response; he targeted LFI and the Ecologists. Bruno Retailleau (LR), who left before the end citing his schedule, attributed a "major responsibility" for the current climate to LFI lawmakers, called for a state of emergency and asked for the presidential calendar to be reviewed, as the second round is set for 2 May 2027, the day after May Day.

Finally, the RN said it was satisfied to have obtained confirmation that its Orléans congress would be secured this weekend, while calling for Laurent Nuñez to step down, according to Public Sénat.

Analysis

The government must first be credited with a serious argument. After looting and violence, the state has a duty to protect people, shops and elected officials, and it is legitimate to bring the parties together to set out the facts before debating politics. A Republic that cannot maintain public order leaves the field open to those who promise to maintain it alone, and differently.

But separating order from causes has its limits. The high school movement, AFP recalls, was born on 18 September in schools in the Paris suburbs around very concrete demands: absent teachers replaced, resources, renovated buildings, decent learning conditions. The violence of 17 October took place, again according to AFP, within a broader mobilisation over purchasing power. None of this excuses looting. But none of it will disappear with a police operation, however massive.

Bruno Retailleau's demand also calls for caution. Article 7 of the Constitution strictly governs the date of the election: between twenty and thirty-five days before the end of the current term. According to the government, quoted by Planet.fr, this calendar was set after consulting the parties, and Maud Bregeon gave assurances that the state could handle a May Day during an election period. Changing the dates of a presidential election under pressure from the street would send a signal of fragility that the Gaullist tradition, attached to the continuity of the state, should be the first to reject. As for the state of emergency, an exceptional regime, it cannot become the ordinary tool for managing demonstrations.

Conclusion

This Friday's meeting at the Élysée and Monday's at Matignon are now decisive. The President and the Prime Minister have the opportunity to show that listening is not just a formula: a precise timetable for replacing absent teachers and renovating high schools, funded in the 2027 budget currently under consideration, would respond to the anger better than another presentation on public order doctrine. Firmness against rioters and justice for a worried generation are not opposites. The question is whether the executive will manage to pursue both at once, before Saturday.

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence.