“You should never talk nonsense.
The shot is signed by Jean Castex, not very familiar with the fact.
In the viewfinder of the Prime Minister: the words of the first deputy of Anne Hidalgo, this Thursday evening on France Info, just after the announcement of the placement under "reinforced surveillance" of twenty departments, including Paris and its region.
Pushing back a confinement at the weekend, judged "very restrictive" and "inefficient", Emmanuel Grégoire then strongly defends a strict three-week reconfinement in Ile-de-France, "the only solution to find oxygen and allow to our restaurants, to our cafes, to social life to start over ”.
The ace.
It doesn't take 24 hours for him to backpedal, this Friday morning during a press conference.
"This is not a request on our part, but simply a hypothesis that we want to put on the table," then tempers Grégoire.
VIDEO. Reconfining Paris for three weeks: "This is only a hypothesis", defends the town hall
But the damage is done.
“You heard the Paris town hall say that we have to confine three weeks and then it's over.
But you know very well that with variants, etc., this is not possible, ”continues Castex from Nantes.
"If even Castex starts typing Hidalgo ..." a macronist quips.
At the town hall of Paris, it is suggested that Emmanuel Grégoire spoke a little quickly.
It is the mayor herself who would have asked him for this reframing, seeing the opposition denounce the lack of consultation and a political coup.
“There was a runaway after a hot expression that may have seemed a little too affirmative, we recognize in the entourage of the mayor.
But there is no will to piss off the government or to make a move.
Another close to Anne Hidalgo drives the point home.
“It was awkward and rushed, a communication error.
If it is necessary to request a reconfinement, it is not done like that.
"
READ ALSO>
Covid-19 in Paris: all indicators on the rise in recent weeks
"That's really ugly," said a minister, seeing the responsibility thrown on the first deputy.
Because the macronists have not been asked to take their revenge after the criticisms of Anne Hidalgo on their crisis management.
"It's fuck-up, delirium!"
dezingue a ministerial adviser.
On such important subjects, we cannot say something in the evening, and the next day that it is only a hypothesis.
"
Political Newsletter
Our analyzes and indiscretions on power
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
A very political pass of arms, against the backdrop of rivalries for 2022. A macronist thus pounded “the sprinkler watered to the power of 1000”: “If the objective was to become Presidential, it's scary.
"The LREM deputy of Paris, Sylvain Maillard, engages, denouncing" a blow of com 'totally failed, not at all up to the stake ".
"You cannot improvise yourself Prime Minister in two hours," concludes the elected representative of Paris.
A working meeting on Monday
But if the method of the first deputy is called into question, the mayor of Paris defends it on the merits.
Where we are assured that this proposal "has already been discussed off with the State", when no one in the executive says they have had the slightest exchange on this subject.
"The truth is that Emmanuel Macron realizes that his bet not to reconfine is lost and that the government remains on the waiting list," returns Rémi Féraud, president of the Paris en Commun group to the Paris Council.
Obviously, the current half-measures are ineffective and we cannot stop there while the vaccination campaign is slower and slower.
"
Atmosphere, before the discussions on the measures begin this Saturday, at 10 am, during a video meeting with Jean Castex, the ministers Gérald Darmanin and Olivier Véran, the twenty departments concerned and the directors of the ARS to "talk about the method ”.
Monday, March 1, a working meeting will bring together the Paris police prefect, the director of the ARS of Ile-de-France and Anne Hidalgo, who is expected to speak at the end of it.
This Friday, while the controversy was raging, it was necessary to hear the early evening for the mayor of Paris to react on Twitter.
"All the options must be able to be debated in the consultation process which is under way", she underlines.
At the Town Hall, we do not exclude that the hypothesis of a reconfinement returns in the discussions, this time in a peaceful manner.
"The advantage is that the debate is now settled," says one in the entourage of Anne Hidalgo.
It is more convenient for the government to have the City talking about it.
It is a part of the road that they will not have to go… ”The political battle is not over.
