Edouard Philippe launched the first local Horizons committees in Niort on Saturday, more than ever "
determined
" to move forward in the structuring of his party despite the Cold War episode opposing him to Emmanuel Macron, who derailed his takeover bid on the right wing of the majority.
Read alsoÉdouard Philippe advances despite the pitfalls set by Emmanuel Macron
Difficult for Edouard Philippe to cling to his slogan - "to
root
" his Horizons party, and "
to raise the collective debate
" - when he is constantly brought back to the bickering internal to the majority.
Starting with the supposed distrust that the head of state would have towards his former prime minister, whose popularity since his departure from Matignon in July 2020 remains high.
130 committees released
A subject on which he does not want "
to spend hours
", he warns on Saturday, when he has just inaugurated in front of a hundred Niortais, including the mayor Jérôme Baloge, the first local variation of Horizons. About 130 committees are released on the same day, and a hundred others must mushroom by the end of January, rejoices Mr. Philippe, expected in stride in La Roche-sur-Yon then Guérande. A way for him to show that his “
determination is total
” just like his “
loyalty is total
”. "
There may be people who are worried about it, but it's their problem, not mine
", he quips again, repeating that he is not "
in a logic of confrontation, which would be absurd
".
Read alsoÉdouard Philippe and Horizons fail to suck up the center-right party Agir
At the heart of the tensions, the refusal opposed by the Head of State in person to the merger between Horizons and the small Agir party, led by Minister Franck Riester, which would have offered Mr. Philippe control over the right of the majority .
A maneuver that aroused consternation in the ranks of the Phillips, and heightened the noise of friction between the entourages even though the majority had put themselves in working order for the presidential election by gathering in a structure, “
Together citizens!
".
Consequently, Horizons "
suspended its participation
" in this "
common house
", explains MEP Gilles Boyer, "
because we considered that preventing the merger with Agir directly contravened a clause that we had collectively set from the beginning: namely to be able to get closer between parties
".
"Febrility"
Friend of Édouard Philippe, Gilles Boyer observes with caution the publicity induced around what should have remained a non-event: “
If we were left to do it, nobody would talk about it.
This did not prevent several elected Agir from joining Horizons, thanks to the dual membership system, without however offering Mr. Philippe's new party the related public funding. “
It reflects a form of feverishness in the majority that I find surprising
”, notes another deputy. The latter takes stock of the "
pressures
" suffered by his colleagues belonging to La République en Marche, "
caught up by the patrol, that is to say by Casta (Christophe Castaner, the boss of the LREM deputies) or Richard (Ferrand, the president of the Assembly)
“at the slightest”
tweet favorable to Horizons
“.
Read alsoFusion Agir-Horizons: facing Édouard Philippe, Emmanuel Macron wins a round
Implicitly, the battle for the legislative elections is also being prepared, and the possibility that Horizons, which would have, from internal sources, already rallied around thirty deputies from various labels, constitutes its own group in the Assembly, reducing the influence of LREM. In this context, Mr. Philippe tries to adopt an overhanging posture, castigates "
the omnipresence of immediacy
", "
the collapse of public debate
" and "
assumes to take (his) time
" to formulate proposals . “
I am not a presidential candidate, so I am not here to present a program to you
”, he thus argues to a lady “
from the left
” who came curious to listen to him in Niort.
Still waiting for his place in Mr. Macron's future campaign system, Mr. Philippe intends to intervene punctually during the next three months on specific subjects, like his recent position in favor of vaccination. obligatory.
Above all, the mayor of Le Havre is carefully cultivating one of his key assets in politics, namely his network of city councilors, to whom he wants to "
give the floor back on national issues
", in particular by creating by the end of January "
a assembly of mayors
.