"Rocambolesque", according to a minister. "An episode that will leave traces," judges a very high ranking officer of the Republic on the move. By deciding no less to decide on the spot to settle the Biarritz case (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Emmanuel Macron has certainly done an act of authority. But he especially surprised his world by pushing Didier Guillaume and Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne to withdraw their candidacies.
For weeks, however, the battle had been raging between the Minister of Agriculture and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, both determined to campaign, each in their corner, to take the seaside city. Guillaume as leader, Lemoyne on the list of outgoing mayor Michel Veunac (MoDem). And finally ... nothing. Wednesday evening, it was by a laconic press release that the Elysée Palace announced that the two were giving up.
What happened behind the scenes? What deal did Didier Guillaume accept to give up? Everything has been decided in recent days. “We had to put an end to this untenable situation. Two ministers campaigning in the same city, we really passed for c ... ", slips support from the head of state. The equation was complex for Emmanuel Macron. Even if in recent months, it is he who has repeatedly encouraged Didier Guillaume to get started. As in June when the latter told him for the first time of his desire to go there. The president replied: "Go ahead, go for it". Especially since at the time, Michel Veunac hinted that he would not leave, and therefore that there was space to take the chair.
Bayrou enters the track
At the end of August, just after the Biarritz G7, Macron and Guillaume had a new conversation on the subject. No presidential contraindication, but encouragement. Same thing at the end of October, when the two put the subject back on the table on the sidelines of a presidential trip to Reunion.
Except that in the meantime, two other actors have entered the track: the president of the MoDem, François Bayrou, and the senator of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Frédérique Espagnac, very close to François Hollande ... and especially companion of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. On the ground, she made an intense campaign to defend the parachuting of the Secretary of State who joined the MoDem list of Veunac, finally candidate.
At the same time, Bayrou held regular sieges with Macron so that La République en Marche would support the outgoing mayor ... and at the same time disconnect the Didier Guillaume list. "The president must have had migraines in recent weeks," laughs a minister. “Above all, he was very annoyed at having to find himself in a pincer like that. Because Guillaume made a crazy forcing to go there and Lemoyne made a big underground campaign ", testifies a collaborator of the Elysée. So for lack of a good solution, the president asked the two to give up.
"Guillaume made a big concession"
Twice, Monday evening and Tuesday evening, Emmanuel Macron spoke at length with Didier Guillaume to push him to backtrack. According to our information, they ended up topping, but with two express conditions formulated by the Minister of Agriculture: that Lemoyne does not go either and that LREM does not give nomination to the Veunac list. Message received. Wednesday afternoon, after the Council of Ministers, the head of state asked the secretary of state to withdraw. "He understood that he really had no choice," says a Palace adviser. Then Wednesday evening, when the executive office was to act as party support for the outgoing mayor, the subject was finally removed from the agenda…
“Guillaume made a big concession by not going there. Especially since he had already launched his campaign, with a team, supporters, etc. But Macron told him that he needed him in government, especially a few weeks before the Agricultural Show, ensures a senior executive of macronie. Then ministers of this rank, from the left, former boss of socialist senators and very political like him, there are not many. So if he lost it… ”
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But what did Macron promise to convince Guillaume to stay longer at the Hotel de Villeroy? "There was a deal," we reveal at the highest level of power. Which ? A regional or senatorial candidacy? “There is a deal, but it is not local or regional. But national, ”is it enough to answer us. Namely a larger ministerial portfolio in the event of a post-municipal reshuffle, or, "more probably", swears a minister familiar with the latest negotiations, a "central place, even a key role, in the organization of the next presidential campaign ".
