Theater lover, Emmanuel Macron loves twists and turns. "Shakespearian! »Reveled Sunday evening one of his relatives. If the name of Agnes Buzyn was blown insistently behind the scenes this weekend, the express candidacy of the Minister of Health in Paris took his opponents by surprise, in the Hidalgo camp as among the green.
These are the cards of the most scrutinized municipal campaign in France that have been completely shuffled. At the top of the State, where the last four days have turned into the Stations of the Cross after the explosion in flight of Benjamin Griveaux on a dark case of sextape, we start to dream: and if Buzyn won after a flash campaign a little month? And if it saved the honor of macronie, who does not expect brilliant results in the polls?
If he officially stood at a safe distance from the negotiations carried out all this weekend at the headquarters of his party, Emmanuel Macron was quickly convinced that this centerpiece of the government team had to be sacrificed. It was he who set out to convince his now ex-minister to attempt this perilous adventure, by calling him this weekend. Didn't she recently declare that she was too busy with the coronavirus to attack the capital on the Griveaux lists? "It's the presidential charm ..." jokes a member of the first circle.
"It's a one way trip"
Sunday evening, when Agnes Buzyn resigned to the Prime Minister, the president greeted a "courageous choice, a decision of heart and commitment". The new candidate made her first outing in the heart of the 9th arrondissement. Ovated by activists, she found her campaign teams and the 17 top LREM lists in the capital in a chic cafe on rue Edouard-VII.
In truth, the former daughter-in-law of Simone Veil was pawing to embark on an electoral battle, she who never led a campaign. From the first months in Health, the political virus had contaminated her, to the point that her name had circulated for European women. First she wanted to build up a balance sheet. She will not have the leisure to carry the text on the addiction which was close to her heart.
The former minister knows it, she will not be drafted in the event of failure. "It's a one-way trip," says one in the executive. By throwing herself this Sunday in the great Parisian bath on the steps of this ministry that she loved so much, she wanted to show that she would not do figuration: "I'm going there to win!" To shower the irresponsible trial which has not failed to arise in the midst of a global health crisis, her successor to Health, the deputy LREM Olivier Véran, a doctor by training like her, was appointed in the evening.
Activists reassured
In macronia, the relief is immense. “After the ordeal we just had, we come out on top! Greeted Delphine Bürkli, head of the LREM (ex-LR) list in the 9th arrondissement, summing up the feeling of the campaign team, still traumatized. Buzyn's candidacy was unanimous among the Walkers and their centrist allies, whose boss François Bayrou actively campaigned in the shadows in his favor.
Unanimity ... or almost. Among the “Mormons”, these historical figures of the Macron campaign in 2017 who saw their friend Griveaux collapse, morale is low. "It's hard ..." confesses one. Everyone knows that the program of their ex-champion will not resist it, with its shocking proposals such as the relocation of the Gare de l'Est. "In the trash, vertical classification! Says a familiar Macron.
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In the opposing camps, one pretends serenity. "You can't improvise as mayor of Paris in thirty days," sermons Anne Hidalgo's entourage, forgetting that Jacques Chirac was elected in 1977 after a surprise candidacy and a two-month lightning campaign. Where Hidalgo and Dati cleave, "Buzyn is plan B as benevolence", brandished on France 3 the centrist Patrick Mignola, while the Walkers said they were confident about the chances of bringing Cédric Villani back to the fold. For Macron's bodyguard, who found himself doubting his chances of re-election after an incredible series of failures, the Buzyn surprise also had the effect of a healing balm: "He still has some under his feet".