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A five-year period of crises: the day Macron was confronted with the Benalla affair

2020-08-04T10:28:36.388Z


SERIES (2/6). Three years in power, three years of upheavals ... The president has known many storms since his election. Back on these days


July 18, 2018. The country is jubilant after the victory of the Blues at the World Cup three days earlier. At the heart of this summer which promises to be so mild, Emmanuel Macron has planned a 48-hour trip to the Dordogne. To talk about rurality, but above all to share this moment of happiness as close as possible to the French.

But even before embarking for Périgueux, the president already knows that his chances of capitalizing politically on this World Cup have just gone up. An explosion is about to explode on the front page of the World: the Benalla affair. “We were on the plane when the article came out. So we learned about it after landing. The president did not show anything, ”recalls one of the ministers who accompanied the Head of State that day.

The Elysée has already known for several days that the evening daily is preparing to recount through the menu the muscular intervention of the bodyguard of Emmanuel Macron - since the campaign promoted deputy to the president's chief of staff - during the demonstration May 1. “But it was decided not to move an ear before the publication. Some reassured themselves by telling themselves that it was not a minister, that it was not Cahuzac, ”recalls a small hand at the Château.

VIDEO. Emmanuel Macron's collaborator filmed beating a protester

The handful of people in the know are nevertheless on the teeth. And two days before the explosion, on July 16, we almost suffocate in the offices of the communication service of the Palace when we discover that Alexandre Benalla is on board the bus of the Blues on the Champs-Elysées: “Everyone world was stunned. A lot of people were levitating, suspended, ”recalls a present.

When the bomb explodes, the Castle folds in on itself. Neither the ministries, nor even Matignon are put in the loop. This makes any coordinated government response impossible. “We watched as spectators for several days. Radio silence from the Elysee, “laments a ministerial adviser.

Bruno Roger-Petit sent to coal

Behind closed doors, the faithful of the president, Sibeth Ndiaye, then in charge of communication, Ismaël Emelien, his special advisor, or his pen, Sylvain Fort, try to extinguish the fire. "The option taken is to do the round back and assume that it will pass," says an adviser to the executive.

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In this first day of controversy, we are still convinced at the top of the State that Benalla will be a summer affair, not a state affair. During his trip to Dordogne, Macron therefore acts as if nothing had happened. Dodging journalists' questions about the ongoing controversy. “The day went by without him blinking. It was 35 degrees, we were dying of heat and we moved around. The president made a walkabout which lasted for a long time, ”recalls a minister who was at his side.

Alexandre Benalla and Emmanuel Macron at the Agricultural Show on February 24, 2018. LP / Yann Foreix  

Instead of a presidential word, the strategists of the Head of State ask the spokesman for the Elysee, Bruno Roger-Petit, to go to the fire. On the morning of July 19, Roger-Petit found himself in the room which is usually used for the minutes of the Council of Ministers behind a desk for an intervention of two minutes flat with two messages to the key: the Elysee was informed and Benalla received the “most serious sanction ever taken against a project manager working at the Elysee Palace”.

In view of the said sanction (a fifteen-day layoff with suspension of salary and a demotion), the declaration is devastating. “Macron and his close guard had a relationship of trust with Benalla, there was emotional too. They had the feeling that he had done something stupid, but they still tried to protect a friend, ”a posteriori analysis of a government communicator.

VIDEO. Macron: "Alexandre Benalla was never my lover"

Brigitte Macron, who appreciates Benalla, will even ask some ministers not to let go of the young bodyguard. “Personally, I was amazed at the scale of the affair. We have certainly minimized and I the first ”, will concede a year later, in 2019, the First Lady.

It was not until the next day, July 20, while Benalla was in custody, that the Elysee resolved to fire him. Too late. The machine has already packed up. The affair goes from twists to twists: carrying a weapon, diplomatic passport, badge of access to the Assembly ... In parallel with these revelations which shake the “exemplary” presidency promised by Macron, the opposition is getting in order of battle. The Assembly is on fire and the examination of the constitutional reform stopped dead.

Too many silences ... then the sentence too many

For the Elysee, the pressure is becoming too strong. After four days of hesitation, the president asks his advisers to put themselves in "commando mode". Crisis meetings are organized at the Château, a “war room” is installed in Ismaël Emelien's office. On Sunday July 22, the idea of ​​a presidential speech during the end of session drink for the parliamentarians of the majority, scheduled for the following Tuesday at the House of Latin America, is stopped. But during this meeting, Macron, who wanted to shoulder his share of the responsibility, pronounced the phrase too many, his famous "they come get me", which will become one of the rallying cries of the yellow vests. In short, the mundane summer affair has indeed become a state affair. The turning point of the five-year term.

PODCAST. Why did Benalla seduce the Macrons?

And now? We learned about it on July 24. Two years after the affair, Alexandre Benalla was once again indicted in the investigation of his diplomatic passports, this time for “forgery” and “use of forgery”. A new judicial episode in sight for the former bodyguard who is still the subject of many complaints.

Benalla, very active on Twitter, however, tries to reinvent a new life. He set up a security company and he spends his time between Marrakech and Argenteuil. Last winter, he hinted that he could get into politics by running for municipal elections in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), before finally throwing in the towel.

A five-year crisis period in 6 episodes

1. The day Macron disowned General de Villiers

2. The day Macron was confronted with the Benalla affair

3. The day Macron learned of Nicolas Hulot's resignation

4. The day when Macron feared that the yellow vests would invade the Elysee

5. The day Macron saw Notre-Dame burn

6. The day Macron confined the country

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2020-08-04

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