Change of tone, change of method! Quite silent for a week and the start of the protests caused by the death of George Floyd in the United States, the executive changed gear on Monday. First on the form, by organizing a press conference by Christophe Castaner to clear the subject, while new rallies are planned for Tuesday in several big cities like Paris, Lille, Toulouse and Amiens.
Then on the merits, by announcing a series of measures to combat police violence and supposed racism in the police. Finished, in particular, the controversial method of arrest by the neck known as "strangulation", promises the Minister of the Interior, who also announces a "thorough" reform of the police and police inspection services. gendarmerie. An attempt to contain the growing anger, at a time when a second opinion on the death of Adama Traore in 2016 came to contradict the first reports which exonerated the responsibility of the gendarmes.
VIDEO. Caught by the neck, racism, IGPN… 3 announcements by Castaner against “police violence”
"We're on a powder keg. We must calm opinion immediately, otherwise everything will ignite, "feared a minister, surprised by the speed of the movement," while there were still a few weeks we talked about national unity ".
Macron "does not rule out speaking in the days to come"
"The president may be well advised to send some signs of appeasement," also worries an LREM MP. But the head of state does not intend to speak for the moment. “He does not want to react to events. Neither across the Atlantic, nor national, "replies his entourage, preferring to leave the Minister of the Interior in the front line. At the end of January, Emmanuel Macron had summoned the latter to make "as soon as possible" proposals to improve "the ethics" of the police after the death of the deliveryman Cédric Chouviat, during a police check that had degenerated. Then nothing ... until this Monday's announcements.
This weekend at the Élysée Palace, the tension has nevertheless risen a notch in the presidential entourage, between the supporters of a rapid expression of the boss, and the others. “He is not disinterested in these questions and these issues. But we cannot expect him to speak all the time, on all subjects, and to take care of everything, ”annoys a Palace adviser, nevertheless suggesting that a reflection is in progress on a possible speech… but not immediately. "It does not mean that he will not do it. He does not rule out speaking in the days to come, ”we add, laconically.
Don't cut ties with Trump
This silence is all the more disturbing since the head of state is no more talkative about the current situation in the United States. Even if France is not in the best position to give lessons, this Elysian silence is in contrast to the very clear positions taken by several European leaders, starting with Angela Merkel, Boris Johnson or the head of EU diplomacy , Josep Borrel. In a recent television interview, the Chancellor, for example, denounced the "murder" of George Floyd, and deplored "racism" in American society ... recalling that it also exists in Germany. Without forgetting the spectacular initiative of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who put a knee on the ground this weekend, a gesture of solidarity with the victims.
"There is a situation in the United States, we are following it carefully, we hope that American democracy, with its institutions, will find the means of appeasement", confines itself to cautiously commenting on a high-ranking Elysian source. But the president, before delivering his point of view on the American situation, must also "overcome the reluctance of the diplomats", adds this familiar.
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Because the issue is delicate, like everything related to the Macron-Trump relationship. The Frenchman does not want to cut the bridge with the American, whom he considers to be "the most powerful man in the world, therefore the one to talk to", recalls the former French ambassador to Washington Gérard Araud . It will therefore take much more than a conference of the Minister of the Interior to respond to this issue. And Macron is aware that the longer he takes to speak, the more the wait will be.