Three hundred and fifty chairs planted in the middle of the huge Elysée village hall. So many deputies. And a man in the middle: Emmanuel Macron, standing, microphone in hand. It is 8:16 p.m. Tuesday evening. And the President of the Republic decided to explain himself ... to repair the mess.
Ten days after the start of the controversy over the extension of the bereavement leave, and the unwelcome words of the Head of State who had asked for "more humanity" after the text was refused in the Assembly , it was time to attempt reconciliation with these injured deputies. "He does not treat us, does not consider us", hammered several of them in recent days. Some even speak of "broken ties" with this president who crystallizes on the ground "hatred among some, sometimes violent reactions".
"When there is a tsunami, you have to assume it"
So Tuesday evening, in an exercise that was reminiscent of the great masses of the Great National Debate, Emmanuel Macron gave himself up to his people. “We are in a difficult moment of national and parliamentary life. But we are embarked on a common adventure, whatever the choices of each other, "he began, sober, returning a little later in the evening on his remarks on" lack of humanity ":" I haven't given lessons to anyone. I spoke up for there to be a firewall. When you lose a battle, you have to recognize it. When there is a tsunami, you have to assume it, ”he pleaded.
While the boat of macronie seems to be swaying according to the media-political storms, the president therefore asked to stay the course, that of unity and responsibility, while urging his troops not to repeat the mistakes of the past , those of his predecessor François Hollande, whose ears must have been whistling last night…
Holland's ears must have whistled
The former president will suffocate by discovering the words of his ex-minister, who still does not digest his "betrayal": "I saw the previous five years fall apart on personal initiatives," Macron launched to majority parliamentarians, warning them against the temptation of the sling. "The people who made the sets on BFM alone were never reelected," he warned them, insisting on the "duty of unity" because "our future is not in the creation of chapels ”. This did not prevent the president from smiling at himself, probably remembering that he had not always been in the official line when he was a member of the Valls government: "My personal journey does not argue for caporalism! "
Then in another arrow addressed to his predecessor, Macron obviously did not digest the trial in amateurism instructed by the opposition on the pension reform: "If the professionals, it is those who were fired (sic) there is two and a half, and that the amateurs are you, so be proud to be amateurs! He said, cheered by his troops. On the balance sheet, he does not intend to put his flag in his pocket either. "There have never been so many reforms in previous five years," he prided himself. Nicolas Sarkozy, this time, will appreciate.
Message received? In a question-and-answer exercise with the audience, a number of elected officials were nevertheless moved by the threats and degradations of permanence they had been the target of lately. "You catalyze the violence in an unspeakable, unjust and disproportionate way", he denounced. But the deputies present, who were determined to tell him things cash and without taboo, objected, reminding him that they had seen the crisis of yellow vests coming and were not heard at the top of the state: "Do you know what tires me?" It is to fight against the offices of our ministers. Cabinets don't believe us when we bring up stuff from the field, ”charged elected representative of Nièvre Perrine Goulet. Applause from colleagues. Moment of discomfort also, in the room, when the deputy Olga Givernet dares this comparison to evoke the tension in the country: “President, you are the head of France. I don't know who the womb is. I don't know if France has a stomach ache ”…
What about constitutional reform?
Others question him about the vagueness that remains around constitutional reform and the reduction in the number of parliamentarians, an old sea serpent for two years. "It is a question of confidence that I will put to the President of the Senate in the coming weeks. But I refuse to have Parliament sit on this subject so that we can achieve nothing, "he warns, aware of the headwinds he has to face in the chamber, chaired by LR Gérard Larcher
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Then to those who are worried that the macronist adventure will pass like a shooting star, the Head of State has shown himself sure of his fact, promising them all "a new page" once the pension reform has taken place. been voted in Parliament in the summer. "What we achieved two years ago is not a parenthesis," he said. This is the new political life ”.
