Municipal in Paris: why did Macron get involved in the Griveaux-Villani duel?

Affront. Insulted. And even insult. These are the nouns used this Monday morning to describe the strange scene that took place Sunday evening at the Elysée Palace. The head of state clears an hour in his calendar to receive Cédric Villani, the dissident candidate for mayor of Paris, who, since the beginning of September, has been plummeting the chances of the Republic on the March and its designated champion, Benjamin Griveaux. Leaded, while for months we said the capital was prable, even acquired, as the current mayor had become unpopular and as the party of the president had achieved cannon scores in Paris during the presidential, legislative and even European.

An hour of exchange under the gold of the Elysée Palace during which Emmanuel Macron asks Cédric Villani to line up behind Benjamin Griveaux. The dissident waits only a few minutes, then throws himself on the nearest microphones to reaffirm his desire to go to the end while acting on a "major divergence" with the head of state. This, under the Fifth Republic, was an approach that was both rare and could justify a political sanction. Besides, he was about to be excluded from the Macronist party this Monday morning. Except that by the way the authority of the president is at least chipped, at worst purely and simply flouted. So why on earth did Emmanuel Macron stage this convocation without first having the assurance that it would be successful?

Monsters

There are three reasons for such an uncomfortable situation. First, the problem with Darwinism, so dear to Emmanuel Macron, is that it creates monsters. In September when Cédric Villani took action, the head of state chose to wait. His party had chosen his candidate: one of his grognards, one of his most loyal lieutenants, one of the "Mormons" who campaigned in 2017, then spoke for the government ... And yet Macron never said nothing to publicly affirm his support for Benjamin Griveaux.

There was this outing in front of the macronist parliamentarians in the gardens of the Ministry of Relations with Parliament in mid-September: "When some say that the national nomination commissions are illegitimate, they forget that they came from them", had declared the president, adding: "What is lethal in politics is division. We all understood that Cédric Villani was the target. Except that in the process, the office of the president sends an SMS to the person concerned saying the opposite, and Cédric Villani to make it obviously public without waiting.

Result: the ambiguity remains and we understand that Emmanuel Macron prefers to let the polls do the work for him. Problem: the gap does not widen clearly over the weeks between the enemy brothers. And Villani feels comforted in his adventure. The problem with Darwinism is that it creates monsters, we tell you!

Two deadly ideas

So why do now what it should have done in September? Because by waiting for long weeks, Emmanuel Macron allowed two deadly ideas to settle. The first: that he did not support Benjamin Griveaux. The second: that he did not, after all, attach great importance to municipal elections as a whole. Deadly because when you tell your electorate that you do not really support your champion and that, moreover, you do not care a bit about the election itself, well the voter receives the message five out of five and tends to opt for the only rational solution, vote for someone else.

This is why Emmanuel Macron had no choice. By dint of waiting, he found himself forced to intervene, but too late, and with an effect perhaps positive for Benjamin Griveaux, but surely harmful for himself and his authority.