The visit was not official.
Far from there.
While the crisis in the agricultural world has calmed down for a few days, after the series of measures announced three times by the Prime Minister, Emmanuel Macron made a point of going, himself, to discuss Tuesday afternoon with farmers in a exploitation of the Doubs.
And this, a few hours after yet another negotiation with Gabriel Attal around the second wave of the reshuffle.
If this is just a detail for you, it perhaps means a lot: these exchanges, which were held
“in small groups”
, specifies the Élysée
,
were simply not included in the presidential agenda. .
Further proof that the trip was indeed organized under the radar, the press was not invited.
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But it is a completely different step, even more unexpected, which surprises.
At the end of his visit, the Head of State went to a tobacco bar in the small town of Roulans.
At
L'Est Républicain
,
manager Marcel Gauffre remained speechless:
“I was sitting in my office when my employee came to find me to tell me that Emmanuel Macron had just arrived.
I said to him, laughing: “Don’t you have any other stupid things to say?”
Still stunned by the surprise of this unusual customer, this boss recounts the scene of his arrival at around 3:30 p.m.
“The surprise of the century”
“He came through the back patio and arrived with his staff. There were around ten bodyguards,”
explains Marcel Gauffre.
Who qualifies this arrival as
“the surprise of the day, of the year, and even of the century.”
If the handful of people present in the bar had reason to be questioned, the president took the time
to “exchange with everyone”
.
By having two coffees in total.
Emmanuel Macron
“was very accessible, very friendly, it lasted more than half an hour.”
“People told him about their life problems and he was very attentive
,” says the manager.
The visit may be innocuous, but it highlights the slight change of gear made by Emmanuel Macron.
Between his recent international commitments - in India and Sweden -, the European Council last week, and the negotiations around the reshuffle, the head of state has let his new head of government occupy the field.
To put an end to the motorway blockages and avoid the excesses of farmers, Gabriel Attal in fact received the agricultural unions three times in Matignon.
Before unveiling new measures throughout January.
The final cost of which was estimated at 400 million euros.
Emmanuel Macron therefore waited for the temperature to drop to take the pulse of rural France.