It is past 9 pm, two elected officials pause, sweep the ballroom of the Elysée of the glance: “It was worth it to come… We will never do that again.
"It must be said that Emmanuel Macron had put the dishes in the big, this Wednesday evening, to receive a thousand mayors on the eve of giving the closing speech of the congress of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), his last opportunity before 2022 to rally these field relays.
Pampered, cajoled, the city councilors, five months before the presidential election.
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Abundance of buffets and personalities' ballets in the salons on the ground floor of the Palace, all open for the occasion, including those which usually host the Council of Ministers.
Almost the entire government and everything Macronie counts in feathered hats have made the trip.
Richard Ferrand is there.
François Bayrou, Christophe Castaner, too.
Here is Édouard Philippe, who immediately falls on his old friends, Thierry Solère and Gérald Darmanin.
Sweet words precede petits fours.
The president thanked the mayors for their role in managing the health crisis and assured them of his "unwavering support" in the face of "violence".
"I will not let go," he promises.
It projects itself, even if it means once again giving the feeling of stepping over 2022 - "the work of the coming months is to look far ahead on subjects of industrial reconquest, regal, health".
"He listens to everyone, even if it doesn't help"
Shortly before, he had spoken for half an hour with the newly elected president of the AMF, David Lisnard, and his predecessor, the outgoing François Baroin, whom he congratulates and thanks. The showdown was not lacking, however ... Latest demand to date, the "nationalization of the debts of local communities linked to the decision of the State to block the country" which makes cringe among the majority.
His brief remarks completed, the Head of State plunges into the room for three hours of walkabout.
A compact mass forms around it.
"We are in an election year, he listens to everyone, even if it does not help," laughs a mayor.
A few meters away, Brigitte Macron also lends herself to selfies.
Like the ministers, Olivier Véran, Éric Dupond-Moretti, Joël Giraud… Or even the head of government Jean Castex, who does not shy away from his pleasure in chatting about the skills of communities.
An elected woman asks her for a video for her dad, a 95-year-old fan.
The Prime Minister, without being asked: “Good evening Dédé, I hope all is well!
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A "taste" before the end of the AMF congress
The executives of the majority have already spun. They have an appointment at the Hôtel de Lassay, around Richard Ferrand, for a working dinner devoted to the construction of the common house of the majority. At the Élysée, the evening drags on. An additional brick of the operation seduction started several weeks ago, when Jean Castex and his ministers began to scour the departmental congresses of mayors.
“We are an important political force. He cannot do without mayors, ”warns the elected representative of Santes, Hiazid Belabbes. "Mayors are prescribers and sounding boards", adds that of Poissy, Karl Olive, close to the president. Relays, with which his relationship has had its share of stormy hours. And that it is all the more necessary to conquer, that LREM, rolled in the last municipal elections, has no local establishment. “Obviously there is a stake for the presidential election! »Says Florian Bercault, the DVG mayor of Laval.
This evening was only a "taste", continues the same.
The big piece, the "very political" moment - Bercault, always - will be played this Thursday at the Porte de Versailles, where Emmanuel Macron will close the AMF congress.
In 2017, he was whistled there.
While his speech, the last of the five-year term, was still on the job Wednesday evening and while the guests continued to enjoy the buffets, a macronist agreed: "The hardest part will be tomorrow".