New restrictions: Hidalgo, Rubirola ... the elected officials on the warpath

Con-cer-ta-tion!

It's been the buzzword since deconfinement last May.

Again Wednesday, Olivier Véran used it almost in every sentence.

The (binding) measures announced to try to curb the epidemic will be the subject by Monday of a "con-cer-ta-tion" between the prefects and local elected officials, to establish the details of their implementation. .

Except that, if the government says "consultation", local elected officials immediately responded "confrontation".

And this is brutal.

VIDEO.

Coronavirus: three alert zones and new restrictions

Michèle Rubirola, the new mayor of Marseille, where bars and restaurants will have to close altogether on Saturday, immediately expressed his "anger" on Twitter to the address of Mr. Véran, subsequently releasing at the microphone of BFMTV that 'it was "information, not consultation!"

"

I learn with astonishment and anger a decision for which the City of Marseille was not consulted.

Nothing in the health situation justifies this announcement.

I do not accept that the Marseillais are victims of political decisions that no one can understand.

- Michèle Rubirola (@MicheleRubirola) September 23, 2020

Renaud Muselier, the president of the PACA region, yet not the fiercest opponent of Emmanuel Macron, entered a black fury.

Still on the social network, he addresses the Minister of Health: “A phone call is not a consultation, when the call is made at 6.30 pm for an intervention at 7 pm, in a rush.

This decision is unilateral, inappropriate and unfair!

You think you are brave, in fact you are losing your temper.

The load is heavy, supported.

A phone call is not a consultation, @olivierveran, when the call is made at 6.30 p.m. for an intervention at 7 p.m., in a rush.

This decision is unilateral, inappropriate and unfair!

You think you are brave, in fact you are losing your temper.

# COVID19 https://t.co/32nTnMAkjS

- Renaud Muselier (@RenaudMuselier) September 23, 2020

This Thursday morning, it was a commotion at the town hall of Marseille, recently passed to the left.

Press conference by the first deputy mayor, Benoît Payan, broadcast live on 24-hour news channels.

He directly challenges the government's decisions and asks for a ten-day delay.

A postponement of the measures announced that the city "lives like an affront".

"We will not let the city of Marseille be devitalized like that", he concludes before moving away, angry, from the desk and the microphone.

At the end of the morning, Matignon made it known that she was opposed to any postponement.

In the process, Olivier Véran, auditioned by the Senate, defends the binding measures announced the day before: "The principle of responsibility must prevail when it is necessary to protect the lives of the people", he insists for the elected officials Marseillais.

“I called the mayor

) several times this summer, I sensitized her in August.

Concerting does not necessarily mean coming to an agreement.

We have to accept the idea that we have to take quick decisions, ”justifies the Minister of Health, questioned.

Hidalgo: "I had said my disagreement with these measures"

And Marseille is not alone.

Paris is also rebelling.

In the capital, the town hall and the prefect must jointly decide on the closing time of bars and restaurants from Monday.

But it will not be beyond 10 p.m., Olivier Véran has already announced.

Anne Hidalgo was this morning traveling to Le Havre for a meeting with Edouard Philippe within the framework of the "LH forum", the "international forum of cities and positive territories".

Political Newsletter

Every day, political news seen by Le Parisien

I'm registering

Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.

Learn more

It is therefore on a platform in Le Havre, with, right next to her, the head of the former government, that she took the microphone to curb the new one: “The vast majority of our cafetiers and restaurateurs have really did great things in public space and today I want to give them my full support in relation to the very restrictive measures that have been taken, unfortunately without consultation.

I had said my disagreement with these measures ", continues the mayor of Paris, who says to have been called by Olivier Véran" an hour before his intervention ".

It is no longer a polite disagreement, it is an outcry from the elected officials.

And the government does not seem to have anticipated it at all.

Everything must be done, in full consultation, to prevent the resurgence of # Covid19.

But it is essential that the measures are proportioned with care for social life, sport and culture.

Let's start a discussion with the @PrefPolice and the professionals

- Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) September 23, 2020

This open war between local elected officials and central power is the symptom of a weakening of the authority of the State.

Which settles for two reasons.

First, Emmanuel Macron and his government are paying the price for the contradictory injunctions into which this health crisis has plunged them from the start.

Respond to the health emergency while boosting the country's economy.

Need to act quickly, while concerting local elected officials and professional organizations.

Reconcile scientific instructions, sometimes shifting, with the imperative to maintain a level of activity for the survival of the country.

All this has given, for months, a feeling of hesitation or constant changes of footing which undermines the legitimacy of the State to make the right decisions at the right tempo in the face of elected officials from the fields who have had a good time multiplying themselves. and to activate to provide, for example, masks when they were sorely lacking.

Emmanuel Macron's strategic mistake

But these elected officials are not completely devoid of political ulterior motives either.

And this is where Emmanuel Macron pays the price for a major tactical error.

By losing interest in the functioning of his party, La République en Marche, by allowing divisions to develop there for months, by not worrying about the competition that was taking place in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and elsewhere, in short by choosing to 'stepping over the municipal elections, Emmanuel Macron was responsible for the berezina last June.

The consequence is that the major local elected representatives are all equally political opponents of the central power.

Some, like Anne Hidalgo, Xavier Bertrand, Valérie Pécresse, even have personal ambitions more or less affirmed, but very real, for the presidential election of 2022!

Under these conditions, repeating the word “consultation” to the point of death has no chance of leading to real constructive exchanges to manage the double health and economic emergency.

The new Prime Minister, Jean Castex, loves to refer to “territories”.

He multiplies the trips there.

This is clearly insufficient.

For now, the "territories" are fighting back.