" It's a shame ". Annoyed and disappointed, Emmanuel Macron began the Council of Ministers last Wednesday with a harsh update. The day before, France crossed the terrible barrier of 1,000 deaths from the Coronavirus. But by opening page 2 of the Duck in chains, his blood only went around discovering the extracts of a private conversation between several secretaries of state, on Telegram messaging. Amazingly light in the middle of a health crisis.
It relates to Netflix, which has decided to reduce its bandwidth consumption to avoid overloading. During the exchanges, the jokes burst out and the conversation happily drifts on the pornographic site YouPorn. The president, for his part, is shocked: "It is lamentable that in a crisis like the one we are experiencing, we find exchanges like these in the press," he tackles from the Ambassador's Lounge. "It really doesn't matter. Especially at a time when we are under criticism of the management of the epidemic and it is necessary at all costs to keep the confidence of the French, "relayed a minister after the fact.
"It's a slide, they can't stop the fall"
Confidence, the word is dropped. He has even haunted the executive for several weeks. Because if the popularity barometers are on the rise for the president and his Prime Minister, the French doubt paradoxically their ability to manage the crisis. As demonstrated by this recent Elabe poll which reveals that for 73% of them (+ 17% in one week!) The country is not ready for the coronavirus. Worse, the confidence rating towards the majority plummets to reach 48% (-11%).
Same thing in an Ifop survey where confidence in the government drops by 7 points in one week (48%) and by 4 points (49%) in two days according to OpinionWay. "It's a slide, they can't stop the fall," blows a friend from the Élysée Palace.
It must be said that the list of grievances is accumulating. The decision to maintain the first round of municipal elections? Now, assessors, contaminated, now blame the government for making them take reckless risks. Multiply screening tests, like the German neighbor or the South Koreans? First on the reserve, the executive finally changed its foot in its doctrine, following the WHO turnaround, announcing that it would increase to 29,000 per day. As for the controversy over the use of chloroquine to treat the sick ... The government wanted to wait for the results of the studies, following the protocols. He finally let go of ballast last Thursday, faced with the media and popular pressure exerted by Professor Raoult.
Warchief and protective father of the nation
The spread of a virus, a threat that is completely invisible, it is as if one is advancing in terra incognita. Everyone loses their bearings. It is therefore difficult to find the right tone, to have the right positioning. Especially since the health doctrine is itself evolving, as the debates are lively within the scientific community. This amounts to making decisions on quicksand, "defends the boss of LREM, Stanislas Guerini, who remembers having heard Édouard Philippe start some of his meetings like this:" I will tell you everything I know, but also what I do not know ".
There remains the most explosive question, and perhaps the most symbolic: the shortage of masks that the majority has not been able to manage by plastering for days that there was no need "as long as we respect the protective distance ". Many especially saw it as a maneuver to alleviate this glaring shortage. "It reminds me of the famous Coluche sketch: tell a techno what you need and he will explain how to do without it!" Laughs a regular at the Élysée.
So for Macron, it is urgent to restore the link. As evidenced by his numerous calls to "the unity of the nation" where he castigates "those who want to break up the country". Properly used martial propaganda. "The vocabulary, the posture of the warchief and the protective father of the nation, it is to unite the people around him, assumes an adviser to the president. In a moment like this, with fears installed and a horizon very uncertain from all points of view, the figure of the president must remain central to the people, a safe haven ”.
Political Newsletter
Every day, political news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
Maintaining this confidence, at all costs, at a time when political speech is often misguided. A challenge. A challenge for the Head of State who has been increasing in recent days the meetings with expert advice - scientists, doctors, religious, etc. - to support his political decision. A concept that he could decline, according to our information, with the upcoming constitution of other cells of the same kind, especially on the economic and legal aspects. And then Edouard Philippe will continue to be very present, with educational exercises, like this press conference held this Saturday with Olivier Véran and experts.
VIDEO. Edouard Philippe: "The first 15 days of April will be even more difficult"
Organize the exit from containment and economic recovery
On the president's desk, three priorities have also been listed so as not to lose track of opinion. The first is to resolve the absolute urgency of the mask shortage and to generalize the tests. The second, spanning the continuation, "by preparing the public policy of exit from crisis, roughly the organization of the end of confinement", details a strategist of the Palace. Then the third, economic recovery, preferably coordinated on a European scale. "When he says that the state will pay, it means that the state will pay to guarantee people's purchasing power and avoid bankruptcies, so as to revive very quickly after the mechanics of supply and demand. Quite the opposite of what had happened during the crisis of 29 ", continues this fine bloodhound of Macronie.
Enough to convince? "We suspect not. Our political adversaries will spare us nothing, ”asserts a minister who fears, more than anything, post-crisis judgment. Starting with their number one opponent, Marine Le Pen, who has been feeling the vein these past few days. To "national unity" demanded by Macron, she now speaks of "breach of confidence" ...
Coronavirus. Macron: "We are at war" (speech in full)
