Some highs, many low. So goes the relationship between Emmanuel Macron, never elected before entering the Elysee Palace, and the mayors. But always, when the wind turns to a storm, the President of the Republic ends up turning to them. "When there were the Yellow Vests, it was already what he had done," rewinds a minister. Rebelote, at a time when the coronavirus pushes him to confine the country. It was remarkable in his speech, Monday April 13.
“There was a slight delay in lighting, but the mayors were on the warpath from the start. We are the little soldiers of the Republic ”, notes Michel Vergnier, PS mayor of Guéret (Creuse) and treasurer of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), who would have liked a more sustained tribute from the start of the epidemic. "We are more than ever sentinels of the Republic", agrees Karl Olive, mayor (various right) of Poissy (Yvelines) and president of the association of elected Generation Field. To the point of having remedied the "deficiencies of the State" on masks or the application of containment, tackled in the week the president of the AMF François Baroin, in Paris Match.
From her many discussions, Jacqueline Gourault also retained the importance of “the mayor-prefect binomial”. "Mayors also demand a strong territorial state," observes the Minister of Territorial Cohesion. Clearly, not to be alone at the front.
A “central role” of mayors in deconfinement
The government knows that it cannot do without them for the future. Edouard Philippe said it on Thursday, April 16 in the morning, during a videoconference bringing together Mr. Déconfinement Jean Castex, the ministers concerned and six representatives of local authorities: “Mayors will have a central role in the operational implementation of deconfinement. "
On the menu of this first meeting, in addition to the municipal elections, the famous May 11, which should mark the opening of the period of deconfinement. With two major concerns: masks and schools. "We were unanimous in saying that the mayors could manage the distribution points for masks, in town halls, for example", says Caroline Cayeux, various right mayor of Beauvais (Oise) and president of the Federation of French cities . Even more thorny, the reopening of schools which embraces, recalls Jacqueline Gourault, the question of "education, but also canteens, transport and health security".
The subject is sensitive: “In our territories, we feel that neither the parents nor the teachers are in favor of a resumption on May 11. It's still too early, ”observes Caroline Cayeux. Will all students resume at the same time? Or, on the contrary, gradually? The executive does not yet have the answer. Thursday morning, some elected officials notably warned of the risk of stigmatization if the “dropouts” started again. And Jean Castex to launch to the Prime Minister, gesture of the hand in support: "I told you, I was right! "
Regular conversations with certain elected officials
Meetings of this type will increase in the coming weeks. “France is that: the state and local authorities. We are constantly working in close proximity to associations of elected officials, says Jacqueline Gourault. But you also have to be careful to have direct contact. What Macron does not miss.
Mistrusting the unions of elected officials - "he considers that they are doing politics, which distorts the exchange", points out a relative - the President of the Republic favors discussions without intermediaries with a handful of mayors. Some have it online up to three times a week, sometimes overnight. How to take the pulse. In other words (trivially) by Karl Olive: "The French rooster never sings as well as when its legs are in shit. "
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For the Head of State, it is also a question of sparing the future. Having promised to "reinvent itself", he knows that he can no longer govern "saber in the clear", as a relative says. Nor alone. "We often talked about Act II without perceiving what it was," recalls one of his lieutenants. This time, continues another, "it has to be seen politically".