"But what galley did Macron get into? "Still does not return a close friend of the President of the Republic. By failing on Sunday evening to convince Cédric Villani to "get closer" to Benjamin Griveaux at the municipal elections in Paris, the head of state not only suffered an affront, but also - despite himself - accelerated the break between the two enemy brothers of the Republic marching in the capital.
"And yet, ten days ago, he assured me that he did not want to get involved. But he let himself be convinced by his entourage, under pressure from Griveaux and Guérini (Editor's note: the general delegate of En Marche ), to try something. We saw the result… ”regrets a high ranking member of the party, still“ struck ”by the violence of the remarks made by Cédric Villani at the end of his interview.
On Monday morning, the reaction of Stanislas Guérini was not long in coming. “The words are clear. And so I will ask my executive office on Wednesday evening to acknowledge the fact that Cédric Villani is no longer a member of the Republic on the move, ”he said in the morning broadcast by Radio Classique.
Twenty pure dissidents
This clear-cut position immediately caused some internal turmoil. “The Executive Office Telegram loop experienced a big moment of overheating. Some of the members believe that an exclusion could bring us more problems than solutions, ”reacts a deputy who has entered the Elysée. And for several reasons.
First the risk of accentuating the divisions by posing de facto the question of exclusion for the elected officials who support Villani, but also for the dissidents of LREM in the other cities. Internally, the number of problematic cases at national level is estimated at thirty, "with around twenty pure dissent", it is said, while already around ten "dry exclusions" have been pronounced by the authorities in recent weeks. Another pitfall, if Villani is excluded, "he will play the martyrs, with the risk that it will on the contrary boost his campaign", fears a deputy.
"An exclusion would be a big mistake"
Result, in the majority, we are half fig half grape on the case of dissidents. "I am not in favor of any form of authoritarianism which consists in cutting off heads six weeks before the election," said a member of the Macronist staff.
A trend shared by a certain number of elected representatives from the left tendency of the majority, such as the deputies Sacha Houlié, Guillaume Chiche or even Aurélien Taché. "I am totally against exclusion, it would be a big mistake," warns the latter.
Another parliamentarian is even more cash: “Anything that consists in narrowing our political base is criminal. It's counterproductive, a terrible admission of weakness. ” This promises lively debates on Wednesday evening…
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As for the deputies involved in the mathematician's campaign, Stanislas Guérini will meet with each of them this week to try to bring them to reason. This is particularly the case of Anne-Christine Lang, Paula Forteza and Hugues Renson, vice-president of the National Assembly.
As for Jean-Michel Fauvergue, the ex-boss of the Raid elected deputy in 2017, he joined the ranks on Monday, declaring to the Obs that "Cédric was making a mistake". Will the others go so far as to lose their cards? "We will see if they are still on the Villani lists on February 27," they say about this deadline linked to the deadline for submitting applications. If they are, the rupture will then be registered for them too. With perhaps another consequence: to weaken the parliamentary group, and to pave the way for the creation of a dissident group at La République in march in the hemicycle.