Special Envoy to Reunion Island
The pediment of the church of Salazie, surrounded by the steep pikes of Reunion, proclaims: "At home be queen". With this backdrop, carefully chosen by her office, the Prime Minister takes her place in front of the microphones. "I'm here to listen," she proclaims, inaugurating three days of travel in the most populous overseas territory.
New postcard of "appeasement", as had just welcomed an elected official, during a round table at the town hall. "You are a great resilient. The France needs you. Continue to move towards this serenity," he said. Weakened in Paris, Elisabeth Borne relishes. Never mind that Ericka Bareigts, the PS mayor of Saint Denis, where a ceremony at the war memorials was held earlier on the arrival of the head of government, evokes the "indifference" of the population, more concerned by the important police device deployed than by the stakes of the visit. Marseillaise, protocol greetings... The moment is solemn before diving into the problems of the island, then feeding bucolic postcards on Friday and Saturday.
Read alsoPensions, pots, biography... Elisabeth Borne arrives in Reunion Island with some hassles
This trip, her first overseas, she had been thinking about for a long time. He intervenes on the eve of his first birthday at Matignon. "You must have noticed that I had a busy parliamentary agenda. This is the first time I can free up enough time, "explains to a group of journalists the one who has made much less travel than his predecessor. Eleven hours by plane separate her from the MPs who give her so much trouble. The distance does not soften his words when, during the flight that takes her to Reunion, the discussion drifts on the group of Independents of Liot.
"Privacy breach"
On 8th June their bill to repeal the pension reform will be examined by MPs. Those on the left like some LR plan to vote for it, while the executive hoped to turn the page on this issue as soon as possible. "It is quite irresponsible on the part of the Liot group to suggest that their approach will make it possible to go back on the pension reform. It is perhaps a way to draw light on a number of leaders of the Liot group, by not telling the truth to the French, "she breathes, exasperated.
A hassle among others. Before flying, it was the publication of a biography signed by journalist Bérangère Bonte (Élisabeth Borne, la secrète, Éditions de L'Archipel) that put the Prime Minister out of her mind. The publisher received a court summons to prevent the republication of several parts of the book. Family history, sexual orientation, health... So many intimate subjects whose evocation or suggestions make her come out of her hinges. "An invasion of privacy," rebels his entourage while the prime minister sees it as an intrusion beyond his political action.
Responding to anger
The mood was more playful when, sitting at the meeting table of the presidential plane, Elisabeth Borne grabbed a microphone to drown out the noise of the engines. Knowing that she is heard in the cockpit, she then thinks she is the control tower imagining emergency messages... She laughs, contrary to the austerity that shines through in all her public interventions. But, behind the humor, how can we not perceive the "mayday" of a prime minister with an uncertain future? In front of the press, she pretends not to doubt that she will be in office after July 14. While tackling his ministers who are reluctant to propose savings in the budget of their ministry, Gérald Darmanin in the lead.
Despite the doubts of her own majority, she talks about the budget that will have to be defended in the autumn and the plans for the "future" she intends to lead. "It is by providing concrete answers that we fight against populism," she said before landing on an island where LFI and the RN obtained massive scores in the presidential election. "This is undoubtedly a sign of impatience with public policies that do not produce enough results," says Elisabeth Borne, making it a priority to respond to the anger that arises from failing public services.
" READ ALSO Pensions: Elisabeth Borne, first lightning rod of Emmanuel Macron
Not far from the airport, several dozen demonstrators, distanced by the police, came at dawn to welcome him with hostility. Same scenario in the afternoon before the departmental council. "We consider that the page of pensions is not turned. Taking advantage of the land of Reunion to communicate, it is not acceptable, "squeaks a man, among the small group of opponents who wave pots and pans. The Prime Minister assures that she will meet the Reunionese throughout the coming days, "to talk, not to bang on pots and pans". "The majority of French people want to move forward. The pots and pans are not representative of the state of mind of the whole country, "she wants to believe... The clarification came from the emblematic president of the region, Huguette Bello (Union of the Left).
If she accuses the executive of "derailing" the legacy of the National Council of the Resistance with the pension reform, she does not want to "polemic" in front of her guest. "We were listened to on our subjects," she rents from the terrace of her office as the sun sets on the island.
