"A trip like any other", part of "a day of discussion with hospital-university researchers on treatments" started at the Kremlin-Bicêtre (Val-de-Marne). The entourage of Emmanuel Macron was busy this Thursday evening, to trivialize the visit of the Head of State to Didier Raoult, emeritus but controversial researcher, in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône). The visit of a president attached to multiply the consultations (including those to come with the members of the scientific council, his European partners and the presidents of the assemblies) before his speech on Monday. And yet ...
The symbolic significance of this exchange, which caught everyone off guard, was not lost on anyone and inevitably gave the feeling of a reversal of the government's position on chloroquine. Admittedly, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, had been kept informed the previous evening. But the secret of this trip (organized without a journalist, like that of the Kremlin-Bicêtre) was kept until the last minute.
For several weeks, Raoult, who on Thursday presented his latest results to the head of state, has put media, popular and political pressure on the executive. "He unleashed the crowds and he was taken as a kind of muse by a part of the opposition, who wanted to slip a banana peel into government on the management of the crisis," said a ministerial adviser. Faced with the phenomenon, the executive appeared to be struggling to temper the ardor, with its line: stick to scientific protocol.
"The will to say that no track is set aside"
Even when the entourage of the Head of State emphasizes that "the fight against the Covid-19 is neither right nor left", The Republicans, fervent supporters of Didier Raoult, were not mistaken , seizing the opportunity of this visit to encourage Macron to accelerate the recognition of his treatment. Conversely, doctors expressed their reservations, seeing it as “support” for its methodology. "I do not understand, it gives passion," sighs a LREM MP, concerned about seeing the government communication blurred.
VIDEO. Emmanuel Macron received by Professor Raoult in Marseille
"A visit does not legitimize a scientific protocol but it marks the interest of the Head of State for therapeutic trials, defends a relative. Getting into the debate for or against is not the role of the president. And to certify that in no case will the political prism prevail over scientific expertise in decision-making.
It prevents. How not to see a message there? "He clearly wants to say that no track is set aside," decrypts a ministerial adviser. A way to ward off the blows of the opposition, and trials in preparation or inaction. The message is also intended for opinion, while signatures accumulate at the bottom of the petition asking to soften the prescription possibilities of Didier Raoult's treatment. Comment from a LREM MP: “So far, chloroquine has been a lot of com. All of this is consistent. "
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PODCAST. Coronavirus: who is Didier Raoult, convinced that he has the miracle cure?
