It is a decoration worthy of the White House crisis room.
With several clocks on the wall to indicate the different time zones.
Except that instead of having the time in Tokyo, Los Angeles or New York, we have Chambéry, Marchenoir and Pau.
This is because we are not at the top of the American state but in the office of the president of the MoDem group in the National Assembly, Patrick Mignola.
Chambéry is his city.
Marchenoir, that of Minister Modem for relations with parliament, Marc Fesneau, and of course Pau… The stronghold of the boss, François Bayrou.
Mignola explains: "I put this to show clearly that there are no divisions among us and it reminds us of what we bring to the Head of State, that is to say that we have feet in the clay ”.
But let no one doubt it: the master of clocks at Modem is called Bayrou.
He who has forged a strange political relationship with Emmanuel Macron.
There was the undeniable boost in February 2017, the alliance that put Macron's campaign back in the saddle.
But since?
Pressure before the legislative elections of 2017 to obtain more positions, the affair of the European parliamentary attachés with shattering resignations in the wake, and today this showdown on proportionality.
Arm wrestling, it must be said, which is taking place for the moment in front of totally indifferent French people.
An ally, sometimes a little “old world” therefore, but which Macron still needs, in particular in the perspective of 2022, perhaps precisely because he has “his feet in clay”.
It is Jean-François Copé, former boss of the UMP, and therefore accustomed to device agreements with the center, who often uses a formula: "We always end up paying the Bayrou tax".