We can quite easily imagine the face of the manager of the tobacco bar in Roulans (Doubs) when he saw Emmanuel Macron quietly leaning at the counter.
The Head of State surprised the staff and customers of this establishment on Tuesday by stopping there for a few moments on the sidelines of a trip to a farm in Doubs.
The scene was recounted by manager Marcel Gauffre at Est Républicain.
Around 3:30 p.m., the president's convoy stopped in front of his establishment.
Emmanuel Macron, surrounded by his bodyguards, then entered the tobacco bar.
Surprise visit by Emmanuel Macron to the Doubs: the president stops for coffee in a tobacco bar and creates a sensation!https://t.co/xmQRYPchBD
— L’Est Républicain (@lestrepublicain) February 6, 2024
“I was sitting in my office when my employee came to 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?
», recalls the boss.
“Very attentive”
After serving him an espresso, Marcel Gauffre strikes up a conversation with the tenant of the Élysée.
“I told him about the profession of tobacconist, that it was difficult with competition from other neighboring countries and tobacco trafficking,” he says.
The manager evokes a “very attentive” Emmanuel Macron.
“He was very accessible, very friendly, it lasted more than half an hour.
People told him about their life problems,” he describes.
If the president was in Doubs on Tuesday, it was because he met farmers on a farm in the department "to discuss in small groups", according to the Élysée.
A trip which had not been announced by the Palace due to the president's desire to “exchange without filter and without camera with people”.
A visit which aimed, again according to the Élysée, to take the pulse of the country, “to verify that the decisions taken (
by the Attal government regarding farmers
) are followed by effects”.
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Marcel Gauffre still can't believe it.
“I've already had calls from people who know me, asking me if it was true, or if it was a photomontage!
», says the owner, who must begin to think that his tobacco bar has something special: in 2022, a customer had pocketed 4.5 million euros at EuroMillions thanks to a ticket purchased in the same establishment, recalls the Republican East.