It was the first crisis of Emmanuel Macron's five-year term.
In July 2017, General Pierre de Villiers, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, resigned from his post after an open clash with the new president.
He swears to have kept "no grudge" against the head of state, as he confides in an aside from the interview given to the Parisian - Today in France.
He himself has come a long way since, becoming the most popular soldier in the country, as evidenced by his triumphs in bookstores.
His first two books (“Servir” in 2017, and “What is a chef?” The following year) each sold 170,000 copies.
For his third opus, published in mid-October, the second wave of the Covid prevented him from multiplying these dedications that he cherishes, and which each time drain dozens of fans.
Frustrated?
“I'm like the French, a little gloomy.
It's not an easy time, ”says the 64-year-old man.
Many of his many supporters would dream of seeing him get into politics, but the ex-officer swears that his fight is elsewhere: “Repairing France”, as it is written on the banner of his book.
Almost a program ...
MANAGING THE PANDEMIC
How do you, the former boss of the army, who has combined the Defense Councils, judge the way in which the health crisis is managed?
PIERRE DE VILLIERS.
Common sense is what is generally lacking in our so-called progressive society.
To govern is to simplify complexity.
Common sense is a strategy: where do we want to go?
How to get out of the crisis, with what scenarios?
Strategy builds confidence.
And trust is the fuel of authority.
These are the three essential keywords in any crisis.
Vaccination will be successful if people have confidence.
We must give an idea of the time, with the essential points to resolve: the rehumanization of our society, national cohesion, how to put to work, all together, those who were teleworking, on short-time working and the first in the trenches who continued to work normally.
When I was in the military, I was asked, for example, "Are you going to take Raqqa back?"
"
(Editor's note: Daesh stronghold in Syria).
I replied: "Ok, for that, I will make some suggestions, but what is the desired end effect, what peace do you want to build?
Here the question is: what do we want to build once we have won the fight against the virus?
Do you fear an upsurge in the number of suicides linked to confinement?
Yes.
Since March 15, I told business leaders who asked me for advice on managing the health crisis to psychologically monitor their staff, because we were going to have loneliness-related depressions and post-traumatic shocks. for those who have been around death, that of a loved one or for themselves.
I know of two specific cases of nonagenarians who entered for problems other than Covid and who are banned from visiting their families: will they hold on?
If they die, what will be the responsibility for such measures?
"The phrase I hear the most is: We're walking on our heads, general."
What should be changed?
In nursing homes, many of our elders die because morale is slackening.
I would recommend trusting the local echelons, at the hospital level, to be psychologically on a case by case basis.
We have a rapid test system that would make it possible to know whether relatives have Covid-19 or not.
Common sense must therefore be used.
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In this crisis, the captains have changed, notably at Matignon where Jean Castex replaced Edouard Philippe ...
In the Ministry of Health, too, this has changed.
According to an old military principle, one does not change strategy vis-à-vis the enemy during action.
You still have to have a strategy.
The phrase I hear the most is: "We're treading on our heads, General.
The authority and confidence of leaders has been declining for a long time.
A COUNTRY UNDER HIGH TENSION
Do you write in your book that there is a growing demand for authority?
Of course.
Everything becomes so chaotic that people feel this need, clamoring for authority.
In the cities, that's what strikes me.
In the army, I commanded French people from everywhere, many from the cities.
I found it interesting to visit them at their place.
To my great surprise, at Les Mureaux, they told me: "General, we respect you.
There were a lot of strong fellows, some young people coming out of prison, not altar boys.
I ask them why they came?
"We want to see you, the army we respect you," they replied.
Respect works both ways.
If we want all these young people to be proud to be French, we must understand that it will be done gradually, by loving them.
But to tolerate that some can be there, in virtual security and economic autarky, is unacceptable.
We see an increasingly significant link between the caïds who run the city with the trafficking and the Salafists who run it on the religious level.
Isn't it too late to change that?
No, we will take three, four, five generations to solve this problem, to restore the balance between firmness and humanity.
Recovering 20-year-olds who hate France, who are close to the bosses, or to the Salafists, that can neither be simple nor quick.
The task is gigantic.
But do we have other choices?
Politics should be the art of placing one's action in the long term.
What do you think of the bill on separatism, presented on Wednesday in the Council of Ministers?
It is always the same after each attack.
What the French are waiting for are concrete actions.
If this requires amending the law, whose act, it is a debate of jurists, but that is not what interests the population.
Lock up delinquents who threaten citizens and degrade the life of their neighborhood, close places that do not have to be open if we spread hatred of France there.
I would add that the French do not understand that they are forbidden to go out without a duly signed certificate ... but that we cannot expel an imam who spits on France!
It is common sense, not demagoguery, to see that there are inconsistencies.
It's only fair if we don't ask for the size of our shoes but we can't expel an S file!
I am not contesting the rule of law, I am just saying that the law is a servant and not a master.
It is a war against radical Islam, and it must be waged with all weapons.
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And this controversy over article 24 of the draft law on comprehensive security, do you understand it?
It is difficult to understand.
The most important thing is that the culprits are condemned in proportion to the harm they do to citizens.
And that the sentence be carried out.
Stopping people and releasing them immediately even if they are guilty, that cannot continue.
Police violence, it exists ...
I am the first to be totally shocked by the police violence that we have seen in recent days.
Today, the police are on edge, victims of violence never seen since May 68. And violence always leads to violence, everywhere.
I've seen it all my life in operations.
I was very shocked by the lynching last weekend of a policeman on the ground.
It's on the same level as what the police did with this music producer.
It's time to stop the fire.
We put the bag down and we think.
VIDEO. Demonstration against the Global Security Act: several incidents in Paris
Do you fear an explosion of anger?
The social climate was already very degraded before the pandemic.
Let's not kid ourselves with illusions about confinement, which is like a lid on the pot: the current climate is gloomy at best, eruptive at worst, in any case very unstable.
Everywhere, poverty and anger are increasing.
And six crises overlap: health, security, economic, financial, geostrategic and obviously political, what I call the crisis of authority.
In your book, you talk about a "tipping point" ...
Yes, I am not the only one to fear it.
It can change slowly, or very quickly if there is a spark like in 1789 or 1914. France is an old democracy, a mature country, but it has historically struggled to reform.
It is often by explosions, by ruptures.
We are in a funny period, which is actually not funny at all, like the "funny war" was.
France has been at peace for 75 years.
We soldiers don't want war.
We know what it is.
My fear is civil war.
When we behead a teacher in front of a college or when we murder three people who come to pray in a church ...
General Pierre de Villiers does not hide his concern: “My fear is civil war” ./ LP / Arnaud Dumontier
This risk of civil war, we talked about it a lot in the United States also during the presidential election.
Isn't that a specter that is a bit quickly brandished?
I hear that this analysis may sound exaggerated, I hope so, but I have accelerated the writing of this book because of urgency.
I'm worried.
You are very dark ...
No, I am a realist.
France is a fantastic country, with its own genius, its incredible values, a language, a culture, companies, nuggets everywhere.
She can get away with it, provided she gets out of this collective depression.
You don't do great things by capitalizing on shortcomings, by repenting, but by pulling up.
Didier Deschamps won the World Cup because he made his players proud.
Before it is too late, it is time to bring together the goodwill and talents, to reconcile the French so that they regain consciousness and confidence.
Let’s stop demoralizing ourselves.
POLITICS AND HIM
You have written three books of findings, analysis and solutions.
Hasn't the time come for you to get involved in politics?
“To write is already to act”, said François Mauriac.
And I am very active.
(He stiffens.)
I'm not making these books for any political office.
I obviously raise a certain number of hopes.
It is true that my approach is authentic.
At 64 years old and after ten years at the top of the State, including four as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, I have acquired a great deal of experience and I have done my duty… I do not do all this to introduce myself in 2022!
There is no hidden agenda.
But hey, the more I say it, the less people believe me ...
And support a candidate?
I will support ideas.
What interests me is to contribute to strategic thinking, if possible to inspire leaders.
I am a man of unity.
What pains me in politics is the fruitless fighting.
I really have no reason to join a party, or to start one.
“I'm not doing all of this to present myself in 2022!
ensures General de Villiers.
There is no hidden agenda.
But hey, the more I say it, the less people believe me… ”/ LP / Arnaud Dumontier
You don't believe in political action to change things?
I believe in it, but it is neither my choice nor my vocation.
In politics you give your all and sooner or later you are rejected.
With the acceleration of crises, it is very difficult to be President of the Republic.
This does not prevent me from making proposals, when I believe that it can be useful for our country.
A former president, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, was buried this Saturday.
How did you feel when he disappeared?
I served the last four presidents, but it was during his tenure that I began my military career.
In the summer of 1978, I was sent to Haguenau in Alsace to command the 2nd platoon of the 2nd squadron of the 2nd dragon regiment… The one in which he had served as a brigadier in 1944-1945 against the Nazis!
We were the Giscard peloton!
On May 15, 1979, he even came to lunch, I was at the head table.
What a beautiful memory!
I even kept the menu in my personal archives.
With his death, a page turns.
He is the last major politician to have known war.
A whole era ...
“L'Equilibre est un courage”, by Pierre de Villiers, Ed. Fayard, 350 pages, € 22.50.
