A weekend between phone calls and final settlements, in order, according to the entourage of Emmanuel Macron, to "be sure that everything is fine for Monday". Crucial is not an overused term here. The head of state, who wanted the country to begin its deconfinement this May 11, plays big.
"We must not make this date sacred," however tempers the Elysee Palace, brushing aside the hypothesis of a presidential address. Way of underlining, at a time when "progressiveness" is registered in the frontispiece of the deconfinement plan and when the evolution of the Covid-19 epidemic is being watched like milk on fire, that France enters there in " a slow process. " Nothing would be worse than a new outbreak that would force to put the country back under cover. "Our eyes will be on the indicators and we set an appointment on May 30 to learn from it," insists the entourage of the Head of State, who sees it as "an important moment in public life", but not necessarily "a political moment".
And yet ... "If the deconfinement goes wrong, the opposition will take the opportunity to rebound," fears a ministerial adviser. National union has lived. On Saturday, deputies and senators nevertheless adopted the bill extending the state of health emergency, which is yet to pass into the hands of the Constitutional Council.
"We can go back up the slope"
Confidence will be one of the essential springs of this moment, so much the cooperation of the population is important. "It is obvious that the deconfinement, for the president, it is also the responsibility of each one", one confirms at the Elysée. Problem, poll after poll, the confidence that the French place in the government is eroding. And if Edouard Philippe manages to pull out of the game, Emmanuel Macron's rating drops.
In unison, the relatives of the head of state swear not "to have the heart which accelerates" each time a study appears, assure the polls are like the waves, which "go up and down". "It is classic, it affects the entire political class and it is exacerbated in this crisis, which confronts the political with immediate results", reassures a deputy LREM.
The fact remains that the French government is judged harder than its neighbors. "These are the lowest in Europe! alarmed a friend of the Elysée. We can always say: They are a recalcitrant or bickering people, but that is not the subject. In the ranks of the majority, some believe that the echo of dissension between the president and the Prime Minister, firmly denied by those concerned, did not help. No more than the vagaries of government communication. The yellow vests crisis and the pension reform have also left their mark.
"We have to be able to recognize mistakes, especially on the masks, which has permanently damaged us," says a lieutenant of Macron. We should have said things earlier, faster. But if we succeed in deconfinement, we can go up the slope. Suffice to say that hiccups are not allowed.
"The pressure will increase"
Faced with concerns, the president is rightly banking on appeasement to the test of the facts. "He thinks that deconfinement is not going to go that badly, that a large part of the schools will reopen, that it will work and that, little by little, people will put their children back there. In transport, it's the same, ”reports one of his recent interlocutors.
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Because another "emergency" threatens. Economic and social, that one. “The country must recover. What we fear most are the destruction of jobs, social plans, says a close. It's inevitable. And there, the pressure will increase. "
Hence the ban on missing this May 11. But also on the following days ... "The big question is: what will happen in the next three weeks? In reality, it is all month long, which is politically at high risk ", theorizes a faithful macronist, who assures:" The success of May is essential for the rest of the quinquennium. "
