But what mess did Didier Guillaume get into? By deciding last November to run for municipal elections in Biarritz - he officially announced it on January 11 - the Minister of Agriculture was swimming in complete happiness. The outgoing mayor MoDem, Michel Veunac, old and weakened by the disease, had seemed not to want to represent himself. "The mayor, his first deputy, Macron and even, I believe, Bayrou, everyone had said to him: go ahead, " said Jean Glavany, who had recruited Guillaume in the late 1990s as political adviser in his ministry, that of agriculture already. And then, adds the former PS deputy, still a departmental advisor to the Hautes-Pyrénées, "Didier fell into a trap".
Nothing went as planned. Not only did Michel Veunac decide, despite his 74 years, to leave. But he especially took with him, in third position on his list, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. Two members of the same government on two opposing lists, this is a rarity under the Fifth Republic which Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has promised to end in the coming days.
"A trap, what trap? This is part of normal political life, however exclaims Guillaume. I am not a candidate against anyone, but only to be mayor of Biarritz. For a long time, the name of this breeder's son was naturally associated with Drôme where he climbed all the first steps of his political life: first federal of the PS, regional councilor, mayor of Bourg-de-Péage, president of the Council general for ten years and finally senator.
"A character in permanent tribulations"
This was before he discovered the charms of the Basque coast and his teaching wife was transferred to the region. “I decided to leave the Drôme department where I did not represent myself in 2015 and to change my life. My main residence has been in Biarritz for several years, ”explains Guillaume. In the meantime, the former president of the PS group in the Senate had thought he was distorting politics by accepting the proposal that Emmanuel Macron made to him during a trip to China to take over the chairmanship of the Organizing Committee for the Cup. of the rugby world 2023. Enthusiastic, Guillaume sent his letter of resignation from the Palais du Luxembourg to the President of the Senate.
"And then patatras, he discovers that, following a maneuver by Bernard Laporte, the post is unpaid," hilariously tells a socialist senator. Panicked, he then returned with his tail between his legs to the Senate where it would seem that his letter of resignation never reached the presidency… ”In short, Guillaume will remain a senator but he then leaves the PS group to join that of the RDSE centrists.
In the entourage of François Hollande, some castigate the course for the less sinuous of the one who will eventually return for the first time to government under Macron: "Guillaume is a character in permanent tribulations and very changing convictions. He is an opportunist without much talk who turned out to be a true false friend of Holland. "
"A bad image"
Many therefore thought they saw in the competing candidacy of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the hand of the Senator from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Frédérique Espagnac, very close to Holland but also partner of the Secretary of State LREM. But it is to Michel Veunac, the outgoing mayor, that returns the initiative to have solicited the Secretary of State (Editor's note: with whom he had worked in 2017 for the renewal of the Destination tourism contract in Biarritz) .
“In any case, everyone is really annoyed at En Marche because these two ministers who are clashing give a bad image. And nobody wants to get involved, this will be settled between the president and the Prime Minister, "says a leader of the presidential party. For the moment, Guillaume seems determined to go to the end of his Biarrote adventure, whatever the Jupiter decision. "I understand that we can find the baroque situation, in the words of the Prime Minister," he comments. We will see when the time comes and everyone will take responsibility. "
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
If he had to leave (or have left) the government, Guillaume would automatically find his post of senator of Drôme. A seat which he would then have to give up due to cumulation if he was elected mayor of Biarritz.
