Emmanuel Macron at "Papotin": before him, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy had complied with the exercise

And three for the writing of the "Papotin".

This Saturday, the autistic journalists of this newsroom like no other interviewed the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron as part of their "Encounters", broadcast on France 2 since last September.

A casual interview in which the head of state confided in his politics but also in his personal life.

All in front of 4.54 million viewers (22.5% market share), a record for the program.

But the current ruler was not the first president to answer questions from these reporters.

The first to try it was Jacques Chirac.

In 2002, when he was completing his first term, the politician hosted the editorial staff at the Élysée.

All in the company of the "poet" Marc Lavoine, as he was presented by the guest.

A godfather of the newspaper "who had no tie" while "everyone had made an effort to wash up", noted Arnaud, one of the editors, in the 21st issue of "Papotin".

This long interview, which ran over three pages, was again unfiltered.

Strict familiarity.

“It is the gesture of the heart”, judged Jacques Chirac, known on the contrary to address his wife, Bernadette.

“It's a habit, he justified himself.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to use familiarity or formality.

I meet a lot of people and there are others that I call you.

It's a bit of a coincidence.

I met my wife when I was very young, I addressed her as you at the beginning and I continued to address her as you afterwards.

“While acknowledging that he would” certainly “like the one he married in 1956.

“A little diversity, tolerance”

The interview then turned to Asian arts and then to the Élysée.

A Palace whose tenant admitted not knowing the exact number of rooms.

But to know the direction of the “toilets”, as he replied to one of his interlocutors of the day.

The president also acknowledged having worn the famous jersey of the French world champion team in 1998. "Not in the street, of course", he wanted to clarify, however.

Read alsoFor thirty years, the newspaper "Le Papotin" has left the pen free to young autistic people

Then there is politics, for those who saw the role of the head of state as “a job that consists of taking care of the interests of France and the French”.

Above all, in the spirit of Jacques Chirac, “we must develop a spirit of tolerance”.

“The French are used to fighting among themselves.

Not necessarily physically, but to argue”, he noted, welcoming the work of “Papotin” “which brings a little diversity, tolerance”.

And swearing that he "would gladly talk" about this interview, in which he also returned to his puppet at the "Guignols de l'info".

“Sometimes I laugh.

Not always,” he commented.

His successor, Nicolas Sarkozy, for his part had waited until he was no longer president to respond.

"I am Nicolas, Carla Bruni's husband", he retorted to Arnaud, who asked him if he was "Nicolas the wine merchant".

And not considering “not nice” that we age it by five years.

Because facing the "Papotin", it had let go.

The policy of François Hollande, president at the time of the interview?

“I don't think much of it.

What would he do in Marine Le Pen's place?

“I would say: Goodbye, I've been seen too much, I'm leaving.

Because I don't like him that much either.

(…) I don't like the way she behaves and what she says.

But, at the same time, you see, democracy requires us to be able to listen, hear and even respect people who don't have our ideas.

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"I'm careful with girlfriends, because of my wife"

And like Jacques Chirac before him, Nicolas Sarkozy had been questioned about his puppet at the "Guignols".

"I find that sometimes she's funny, and sometimes she annoys me," he admitted.

But hey… Since no one asks me my opinion, I deal with it, but I don't watch every night, believe me.

“As for questions of a personal nature, the politician slipped” adore spaghetti Bolognese.

A dish often prepared by his wife, Carla Bruni.

He also explained watching “practically a movie a day” and “not going a day without reading.

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Between two lighter questions, heavier questions.

On the unemployment of people of foreign origin, on autism, on school harassment, on discrimination in hiring.

As well as on housing, Cathy considering it "unfair" that there are not more low-rent housing.

“I'm not sure that living in an HLM tower, densifying everywhere, is the solution, he objected.

What matters is that everyone gets a job.

The problem is not so much the availability of apartments;

the problem is having a salary to pay the rent.

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Before returning to intimacy, and to pets.

For him, a cat, "like that, it avoids having mice at home", and a dog, 8 years old at the time, who "has still not learned to pee outside", favoring his master's office.

And to conclude on his friends.

“I have a lot of friends, he slipped.

I'm careful with girlfriends, because of my wife.

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