Edouard Philippe swept away Saturday, June 20, eight days before the second round of municipal elections, “ speculation ” around polls and its flourishing popularity rating, presenting in Le Havre the adaptations of its program caused by the coronavirus crisis.
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“ The only thing that matters is not predictions, projections, polls, but next Sunday, the vote. The rest is speculation ", hammered the Prime Minister during a press point in the Norman city. Questioned several times on the Ifop poll giving him a cubit ahead of his communist opponent Jean-Paul Lecoq (53% against 47%), and on his popularity rising sharply at the national level, Edouard Philippe assured adopt "a reading very distant ”from these figures. " It's probably a lot more pleasant when it's positive than when it's negative. But I feel that, even when it is positive, it is necessary to take this with a lot of distance ”, insisted Edouard Philippe.
Accompanied by several of his co-listiers, including the current acting mayor Jean-Baptiste Gastinne who occupies the chair while Edouard Philippe is in Matignon, the latter indicated that he had " reoriented " his program due to the health crisis.
He set " three new meetings ", including a first horizon, at six months, " to help those who are most affected by the health crisis ". For example, the municipality should set up school support in August targeting students who may present " difficulties at the start of the school year ".
If he promised that he would not backtrack on his commitment not to raise local taxes, Edouard Philippe, on the other hand, said he wanted to delay on the " construction of a large cruise terminal where we wanted to create a tourist and cultural place " . Philippe, who succeeded Antoine Rufenacht as mayor of Le Havre in 2010, finally pleaded to " keep the coherence of municipal action ". " We only change things over time, year after year, where we always go in one direction with a lot of method, " he said.
Can this philosophy be transposed to the national level, while the fate of Mr. Philippe after three years at Matignon is still pending? " No doubt. But as I want to tell you about Le Havre, I won't talk to you about elsewhere ”, he said.