At the botanical garden of Tourcoing this Sunday noon, a question ran through the heads of a good part of Macronie: in the middle of the plants, in this bucolic setting, the ambitions, still in the state of bulbs, would they definitely bloom? or to reabsorb itself, at least for the year to come? A question that could not be more legitimate: three days before holding his first major political comeback in his northern stronghold this Sunday, Gérald Darmanin had taken out his thorns in the press to affirm his differences with his government comrades, in particular Élisabeth Borne and Bruno Le Mayor; set its own political line, a revisited seguinism attached to the popular classes and the republican order; and finally, heckle the general delegate of Renaissance Stéphane Séjourné, who had a tad reprimanded the temptation of the Minister of the Interior to build a chapel for 2027. Was Gérald Darmanin going to continue to raise the temperature under this Sunday heat? It did not happen ! Surrounded by his supporters, but not only, and a few members of the opposition, mainly Republicans, the tumultuous first cop in France tried to maintain unity and smooth things over.
In the front row, facing the ephemeral scene and facing the sun, Gérald Darmanin and Olivier Dussopt, seated just to his right, are burning. The forehead more and more red and more and more oozing. Is this, then, the hell of the North? “Marked with a red iron (;”, jokes the Minister of Labor by text message. By the rays of the star of the day or by the seal of the Darmanin stable? All those who have chosen their side, especially in the ranks of Renaissance in the National Assembly, are there: Karl Olive, Mathieu Lefèvre, Maud Bregeon or even Violette Spillebout, the local deputy, who played the mistresses of ceremonies… The entourage of Gérald Darmanin counts a hundred parliamentarians, including opponents to the government from LR, to whom the Minister of the Interior gladly gave the floor: the president of the centrist group in the Senate Hervé Marseille, who gratified the public with his usual strokes of humor, Senator LR Marc-Philippe Daubresse or even the LR senator from Bouches-du-Rhône Stéphane Le Rudulier. “It’s Welcome to the chtis LR!” Laughs a Renaissance deputy himself from the Gaullist formation. Gérald Darmanin did not draw a trait on “political overcoming”, sacrosanct macronist mantra for six years, he only chose his side. “Darmanin still has a fairly insane popularity among the deputies, today it’s a bit like the political comeback of the majority … but around Darmanin”, slips a Macronist parliamentarian. Those who are not big supporters of the boss of Beauvau do not want to insult the future. Who knows what will happen in four years…
“So are you the eye of Moscow?”
To top it off, scattered all over the public, hide about fifteen members of the government: from lifelong friend Sébastien Lecornu to stage regional Agnès Pannier-Runacher, via the neo-minister and support Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, the MoDem and Minister of Overseas Philippe Vigier or even Charlotte Caubel, inserted in Horizons, the party of Édouard Philippe. There is one, on the other hand, whose absence did not surprise: Bruno Le Maire. The outings of Gérald Darmanin during the week have a bit annoyed his “friend”, as he says himself. The government’s number two and Minister of the Economy has been somewhat offended after reading in The voice of the North his colleague’s criticisms of a handful of budgetary decisions and, perhaps, his condemnations of the overly technocratic language used by his political family. So much so that Bruno Le Maire asked some of his lieutenants not to go to this great Darmanist raout… One of them claims to have hesitated a long time before, finally, taking the train this Sunday morning, after having had the assurance that the speech of the boss of Beauvau would be rounder, softer, than his interviews with the press.
Other personalities were also there to make sure. To a Renaissance deputy who has had the president’s ear for a long time, one ventures to ask: “So, are you the eye of Moscow?” – “Frankly, there are people who do the job much better than me”, he replies, pointing to a small cluster behind him. Far from the hundreds of chairs, far from the stage, in the protective shade of a grove, several advisers to Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace, including the “Memory” adviser Bruno Roger-Petit or the “Territories” adviser Jean-Marie Caillaud, attend the successive speeches. The working classes and Labour, the working classes and Ecology, the working classes and authority… Elected officials and fellows follow each other microphone in hand to touch on these subjects.
It was not until around 5:30 p.m. that Elisabeth Borne arrived at the botanical garden, to the applause of the assembly. A cheer for a last-minute guest. “I had not planned to spend this last weekend of August in Tourcoing”, humorously loosened the Prime Minister, picking up a few laughs in passing. And for good reason: while she had declared Wednesday at the microphone of France Bleu that she would not go to Tourcoing, the Prime Minister changed her mind during the day on Friday after the muscular interviews of Gérald Darmanin in The Parisian Then The voice of the North. “She goes there to express herself, which kills her initiative”, squealed a minister in the week who, he says, does not yet want to choose his presidential team by going to the North. Does she just come from a good heart? It is – strongly – allowed to doubt it. “She is not the one who is sending herself here, she is not the one who chose it…”, curled, a few minutes before the start of the event, one of the members of the government present alongside of the Minister of the Interior. Understand: the instructions would come directly from the Élysée. The minister nods, as do many sources within the executive. “For the president, it was necessary to stop the ambient mess and whistle the end of recess”, analyzes an elected macronist close to the Head of State.
But we can always count on the president of the PACA region, Renaud Muselier, to create a little moment of derision mixed with unease with a superb slip: “Mr. Prime Minister”, he blurts out in the direction of Élisabeth Borne, sitting right next to Gérald Darmanin. Apart from one or two pranks, including strong support for Bruno Le Maire, the head of government simply recalled that her team must “be entirely devoted to action and intense substantive work to produce results”, and no, in subtext, to the creation of corridors for 2027.
Gérald Darmanin, he played fair play: “We are very happy to welcome Elisabeth and it is an honor for Tourcoing and for the debate of ideas”, hammered without blinking the one who was two fingers to get Matignon in the heart of summer. Was it because of a slight sunstroke or the few glasses of beer ingested during the day – perhaps even the two, they do not go together well – but the Minister of the Interior gave his audience a speech less colorful than the flowerbeds in greenhouses that surrounded it. Less dynamic than usual. On several occasions, he praised the work of the government since 2017, praised Élisabeth Borne as well as Emmanuel Macron, and placed himself entirely in the wake of the president.
Of course, the very general monologue focused on the working classes, their expectations, their feeling of injustice and inconsideration, but Gérald Darmanin neither posed as a megaphone nor asserted a little more more its specificity. Collective. Loyal. “It’s like that, Gérald, it tightens, then it softens”, explains one of his faithful lieutenants to the National Assembly, mimicking a tensioner with his hands, or a chewing gum, unless it’s not or the Prime Minister’s nerves. “It is the love of the Republic and the dedication to the people which guides the steps of the President of the Republic, which guides the steps of the Prime Minister and which must continue to guide us”, he declared in conclusion. of his speech. “Come on now, let’s sing and make peace,” wrote a Renaissance parliamentarian when the Marseillaise, sung a cappella, sounded. But how long will it last?