"Ah, if only Macron could convince Collomb to withdraw!" Since a second round of municipal elections is looming in June, Lyon walkers have been clinging to the idea of this Elysian intervention. "The only one that could still allow LREM to save the metropolis of Lyon, cradle of the macronie", sighs, disillusioned, a deputy of the majority. But in the end, they are very little to believe it is so announced the fall of the house Collomb.
After 43 years of municipal life, after two decades in the chair of the mayor of Lyon, Gérard Collomb, undisputed master of a city he has shaped his idea for 20 years, is on the verge of losing everything. On the evening of March 15, he came fourth in the race for the Métropole. Behind the Greens, behind the right, and even behind his former lieutenant, David Kimelfeld left in dissidence! The slap.
He had managed to snatch the investiture of LREM and the support of Emmanuel Macron. The polls gave it first. In the markets, hugs, selfies, all these signs of affection gave him confidence. In the barometer of notoriety, Gérard Collomb was unbeatable. He did not see anything coming.
The health crisis, a reprieve
The blow was violent. For almost a month Gérard Collomb did not reappear. "But where has the mayor gone?" Worried the Lyonnais. "Could he have been infected with the coronavirus?" Then the political animal got up. "He saw that this health crisis would give him a reprieve and that he could recover," said a member of his team.
Standing again, he analyzes his failure. He points out the abstention of the first round, but especially the divisions of his camp, his ex-dolphin, David Kimelfeld left on his side with many of his former followers. "He is looking for scapegoats, he is not able to question himself", judges a former ally who has passed on to the enemy, "he has not wanted to listen to all those who repeat to him, since 2018, that this fourth term at 73, would be too much. "
And his intuition was dulled. He feels less the new aspirations of society, the urgency of ecology. Evidenced by his attempt to hastily green his campaign last fall by installing planters on rue Edouard-Herriot… now in the dismantling phase. Or his recent flip-flop on the Ring of Sciences, barbaric name given to the closure of the ring road, emblematic project of his campaign, abandoned under pressure from his campaign director. The ancients also point out his errors in strategy, such as the choice of his young sports assistant, Yann Cucherat, to wear the colors of LREM in Lyon, while he attacked the Metropolis.
"A totally personal practice of power"
How did the master of Lyon with legendary political flair get there? He who, in 2015, was the first to believe in the fate of Emmanuel Macron, to open his networks to him, to cross France to convince the mayors, to invest day and night in his campaign. Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée is his greatest pride. If it hadn't worked, he dreamed of installing it in Lyon.
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"I believe that unlike Pierre Mauroy in Lille, Jean-Marc Ayrault in Nantes, Bertrand Delanoë in Paris, Gérard Collomb did not succeed his succession, consequence of a completely personal practice of power and he missed his return from Beauvau “, Analyzes one of the first macronists. No one in Lyon understood his hasty return in the fall of 2018. "All his life, he waited for a ministerial post that he was never given, recalls a former fellow traveler of the PS. There, it is finally the consecration and he lets go of everything when he could have finished his career in style. "
There was pressure from his wife, Caroline, who told him how his successors, Georges Képénékian in the city and David Kimelfeld in the Metropolis were comfortable in the chairs he had given them. And also his discomfort with Parisian codes, the authority of the Prime Minister, even if he remained the protege of Emmanuel Macron. "He realized that he preferred to be king at home than little boy in Paris," reports an elected macronist who saw him suffer in government.
The Benalla affair, the moment of change
Then there was the Benalla affair, a turning point in his relationship with the head of state. “The real turning point in their relationship is the Benalla affair. Macron considered that his closest had not stepped up to defend him and Collomb judged that Macron had failed to surround himself properly. It is the beginning of a real distrust between them, “analyzes an intimate of the two men.
VIDEO. Benalla affair: Collomb says he talked about it "as little as possible" with Macron, laughter in the audience
"It's always sunny in Lyon, we're fine here," sings Gérard Collomb regularly, talking about his Parisian interlude. He also confides how well it was inspired to leave just before the yellow vests crisis and then that of the pension reform. And do not hesitate on the air to distil his little criticisms.
Since his return between Rhône and Saône, something has broken. Contacts with Emmanuel Macron are rare. “After his resignation, their relationship was initially a very long silence. It only resumed very slowly during the municipal elections because Macron wanted an agreement to be reached, because Lyon was important to him. But that failed, ”says a source who witnessed their complicity.
With Brigitte Macron either, who called her "my Gégé", it is no longer as before. "Collomb continued to communicate with Brigitte, but she could not repair a relationship that had broken down over time," said a member of the inner circle.
Nothing works as it wants
Today, the current no longer seems to pass between the mayor of Lyon and the President of the Republic. No more than with the government. Last week, Olivier Véran, on the move to Lyon, did nothing to enhance his host.
And troubles continue to accumulate for Gérard Collomb. His running mates urged him to seal a rapprochement with Kimelfeld, but also François-Noël Buffet (LR) to counter the alliance that the Greens were preparing with the left. What about leadership? " We'll see later. In the third round, ”says one of his closest supporters, Louis Pelaez. "What head? I don't know, ”asserts Jean-Yves Sécheresse, his 30-year-old security assistant and traveling companion, with whom he just got angry.
Collomb who feels his house collapsing is tense, irritable. Nothing works as he wants. The first city council in videoconference turned to disaster. A deplorable connection, and a mayor of Lyon, angry, surprised live on BFM Lyon, to treat Myriam Picot, mayor of the seventh and member of his majority of "conne", believing his microphone closed. He had to apologize publicly. "He is in omnipotence, he does not support contradiction, and therefore democratic life", summarizes the latter, wounded.
"Mop" masks distributed in Lyon
The distribution of masks to Lyonnais, provoked, a few days later, a new outburst of social networks, hilarious in front of these funny masks compared to "mops", or even "diapers". The mayor had to intervene to defend the choice of these ugly masks.
I got my mask offered by the town hall of Lyon. It will be used to wipe down the bowl of my WC.
Mdr 😭
It goes up to the front anyway !!!! pic.twitter.com/cBSMxj8nXN
The conquest of his dear Metropolis seems compromised. Nothing works as before. Gérard Collomb pleaded with Emmanuel Macron for a postponement of the two rounds of the elections to March 2021. He was obviously not heard since the president is leaning at this stage for June if the health situation allows it.
"Despite their almost filial relationship, a distance has been created", concludes another historic walker, "part of the affect will always remain, but with his results from the first lap, he is coasting now".
