Reunion.
Emmanuel Macron will decorate his former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe with the order of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor this Tuesday at 12 p.m., said the Elysee Palace, a ceremony that was delayed due to the pandemic.
This medal ceremony should be an opportunity to show the good relations between the two men, a few days before the first round of the regional elections, and while the former Prime Minister is engaged in the campaign on the occasion of several trips in recent days.
The entourage of the Head of State is counting on his active support for the presidential election of 2022. "He speaks to people to whom we do not speak", estimates a close friend of Emmanuel Macron.
Edouard Philippe, on tour in France for the promotion of his book “Impressions et lines claire” (Ed. JC Lattès) on his visit to Matignon, takes advantage of this for very political visits.
He went to support regional majority candidates, such as his friend the Minister of Relations with Parliament Marc Fesneau, candidate in Center-Val-de-Loire, or Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq in New Aquitaine.
The former Prime Minister, the most popular political figure among the French according to an Elabe poll in early June, also visited the former Republican Laurent Marcangeli, mayor of Ajaccio.
Prime ministers automatically rewarded
For this ceremony, Edouard Philippe, who has become mayor of Le Havre again, will be accompanied by relatives, in particular the mayor of Angers Christophe Béchu, the latter confirmed to Ouest-France.
Since 2008, former Prime Ministers have automatically been elevated to the rank of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor if they have spent more than two years at Matignon.
Edouard Philippe stayed there for a little over three years, from May 15, 2017 to July 3, 2020, ousted by the head of state who replaced him by Jean Castex.
