“We will continue to discuss the campaign, ways to avoid inflicting irreparable damage [on each other], and agree on a code of conduct,” he said.
Attal and his advisers started organizing the meetings in the spring, after Philippe launched his campaign but before Attal’s announcement, to ensure the centrist bloc remained united. But the encounters have been marred by disagreements over how to rally around a single champion.
A lawmaker from Philippe’s party, Horizons, concurred that Tuesday’s meeting would not lead to a breakthrough.
“We are going because we are polite but we’ve never believed in it,” said the MP, who was, like others quoted in this story, granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Ruinous infighting
While polls suggest Philippe is among the best-placed candidates to mount a serious challenge to Le Pen, the plethora of hopefuls in the political center is allowing the two anti-establishment candidates to dominate the public discourse on everything from banning the hijab to writing off massive chunks of French debt.
One former centrist minister said that “internal competition” between Philippe and Attal, who are the closest ideologically, could end up destroying a centrist bloc that already faces an uphill battle given voter dissatisfaction with Macron’s presidency.