“From time to time, he goes a little overboard when coloring.” Generally, Emmanuel Macron says it about others. But today, it’s about him. A candle lit in the village hall of the Elysée at the start of Hanukkah on a Thursday evening in December and everything bursts into flames. Secularism and universalism thrown overboard, there are protests here and there. Inability to calibrate symbols. It was not the Hanukkah candle but that of remembrance and memory of the Shoah, says the president. Sob from a political friend: “He does as usual, he posts rationalizes.” Regret from a friend: “Everything is approximate at home.”
Among ministers too, the event created a stir. Growling from one of them: “Another good idea from people who are mainly used to make him do stupid things.” The head of state no longer decides? If, naturally, he only theorized irresponsibility. How many times have his colleagues heard him say this phrase: “Do it if it works.” And if it doesn’t work, the culprit will be obvious.
The next one is perhaps Gérald Darmanin. For weeks, the Minister of the Interior has been trying to reassure Emmanuel Macron on the vote on the immigration bill: “There is a third for, a third against, a third a little lost.” But the president, who likes to vary the messengers, questions and hears another music. “I don’t see how it votes,” said a worried strategist. “Those who want to abstain at LR are reduced to nothing.” A pessimism which inspires the Head of State, concerned about the well-being of his neighbor, with this empathetic reply: “Oh, it’s painful for Gérald…” How do we say “it will be his fault and not mine” in Elysian language? It must be said that the tenant of Place Beauvau insisted a lot this summer – the president has not forgotten it – on his ability to forge an alliance with Les Républicains, brandishing this asset in the hope of convincing that for Matignon he was good.
Looking higher is Emmanuel Macron’s mission. Give hope to the French, trample on the political and media escalation which sickens them every time it arises. So, he taps, calls, apostrophes: “How do we land?”, and intimately: “Cogite!” Several scenarios are being studied, all responding to the request for a “big reset” issued by the leader. He “fidgets”, according to the expression of one of his weekly interlocutors, without forbidding anything. Among the carefully considered tracks, one tempts him, one frightens him. Let’s start with the second. A deal with these indocile LR, Nicolas Sarkozy’s hobbyhorse from the 2022 campaign. “It’s discussing with the apparatuses,” protests the president with a retch. “And it’s reactivating the right-left divide. ” Horror.
The “major reshuffle” plan
He pays more attention to the “major reshuffle” plan. The (often promised) upheaval of January, like an epiphany. He collects the names of hypothetical ministers and excludes others. After the publication of several articles on the political offensive of the Minister of the Economy, inflated by the maintenance of France’s rating by Standard & Poor’s, he assured a visitor: “Bruno, I would not appoint him Prime Minister, his real fault is that he never deals with difficult subjects.” Salute successes, always, recognize effort… Macronian management in all its richness. The person concerned will appreciate, he who some have heard boasting recently at Bercy: “I’m the only one.”
The only one… who can lead the list of Europeans, that’s what Emmanuel Macron thinks. One, two, three emissaries would have been asked by him to make Bruno Le Maire listen to reason. Result: one, two, three refusals. As a bait now according to an Élysée strategist: “A package: head of the list + the position of Thierry Breton, at the Commission.” And the romantic minister striving to decline. “But what does Bruno want?”, annoys the head of state. Because the “reset” that he is constructing and which, according to him, can only take place before the European elections, must contain strong messages. We do not herald the revolution by keeping at Bercy the minister we appointed in the early days of the first five-year term. Just as in Beauvau there cannot remain anyone whose record has been tainted by the procrastination and much more perhaps born of the immigration bill. And what can we say about the Minister of Foreign Affairs at a time when the situation in the Middle East is forcing France to make a firm and strong statement? “Catherine Colonna runs her ministry like a big embassy,” says a close friend of the president who imagines her imminent arrival. Funny reasoning. Is this not precisely what the Head of State, intoxicated with internationalism, eager to get involved in all the world’s conflicts, expects from the resident of the Quai d’Orsay?
Another “reserved domain”: Education. Gabriel Attal showcases his authority and his will, difficult to change. A few days before France’s poor results in the Pisa ranking, the minister outlined his plan to raise educational levels. Clever. Especially from the president who, in a small group, rejoices: “I made him release his announcements earlier, that’s good!” I take full responsibility for this success and I draw conclusions by emphasizing that everything happens thanks to me.
And when this is not the case? When a success arises and Emmanuel Macron stays too far away from it to be able to take any responsibility for it? Deafening silence. The President of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, and the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, can testify: they are still waiting for encouragement or thanks from the Head of State after their great march against anti-Semitism and racism. Did they believe that Emmanuel Macron would come? “Not for a moment! It wasn’t his idea.” Hell is other people.
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