It’s his own snobbery: Emmanuel Macron is late. Always. Whether it’s veterans of the Second World War or the King of England, it doesn’t matter, the president keeps his people waiting. Anne Hidalgo had the opportunity to see this during Parisian ceremonies and events where, with constancy, the Head of State strived to arrive late.
So much so that on June 21, 2021, when Bernard Arnault, with whom she was in front of La Samaritaine to celebrate its reopening, asked her to please enter the department store because it was 12 p.m. and this time corresponded to the expected arrival time of Emmanuel Macron, she cannot suppress a smile. The businessman risks waiting a long time… She has barely pushed the heavy glass door when the presidential convoy parks. It’s exactly 12 p.m. Not everyone is in the same boat.
Macron stands in front of them at the appointed time
August 25, 2024, it is no longer consumption that we celebrate but Liberation. That of Paris, whose 80th anniversary is being celebrated. We are watching for the president who is due to give a speech. Divine surprise, Anne Hidalgo’s teams widen their eyes: for the first time since 2017, Emmanuel Macron is standing in front of them at the appointed time. How can we not see this as a sign of warming in their relations?
These two, meticulously, scrupulously, hated each other. Since his election in 2017, the tenant of the Elysée has never spared the councilor of the capital despite their joint management of the 2024 Olympic Games file. Small annoyances, frank humiliations, and links which, over the years, have become break. It has not escaped Anne Hidalgo that the meetings on the organization of the Games in the presence of Emmanuel Macron are systematically held without her. How can we not also note this strange placement reserved for him during official dinners at the Elysée? “At each dinner, she backed away,” says one of her close friends. “At the first, he stuck her behind a pillar, at the last, she was next to the toilet, so she stopped going there and they stopped inviting him.” What elegance. Even for the state dinner in honor of King Charles at Versailles, the Parisian elected official did not receive an invitation card.
Building on this great understanding, the Head of State and Anne Hidalgo have nevertheless achieved the impossible: making Paris 2024 a real success. And it is since that day that it seems that something has changed between them. Is it because the mayor of the capital has, in the eyes of the president, changed dimension? Since the summer, according to Anne Hidalgo’s friends, Emmanuel Macron has been taking great care of her, inviting her to enter with him and Brigitte Macron into the restored Notre-Dame, showering her with respect during official ceremonies…
A reserved seat for lunch at the Elysée
Until a disconcerting Friday the 13th; Who said this date was unlucky? On December 13, 2024, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, received the insignia of officer of the Legion of Honor from the hands of Emmanuel Macron. This time, Anne Hidalgo is part of the party and even has a place reserved for the lunch that follows at the Elysée. No pillars to spoil the view, everything is arranged. And even more. Since the dissolution, the president has time. So, at the end of these feasts, he suggested to the mayor of Paris that they continue their one-on-one discussions over coffee. Unpublished.
A few hours earlier that day, François Bayrou appointed himself Prime Minister. Does the head of state need to confide? “Everything the press says about the standoff is true! I didn’t want to name it,” he says in substance to his guest who remains speechless. Going from rival to confidante is unexpected. His host does not intend to stop his revelations there, here he continues, accomplice – or tease? -: “But we are never better served than by our own people, you know that as well as I.”
Where will this new idyll end which still surprises those who, for seven years, witnessed the battles between Emmanuel Macron and Anne Hidalgo? Citius, Altius, Fortius.
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