With the presidential campaign behind him, outgoing President Emmanuel Macron hopes to qualify in the second round of the election. To convince the French to trust him, he can count on his wife Brigitte Macron, whose popularity is considered useful to LREM.
The first round of the presidential election is being held this Sunday, April 10. In the middle of the campaign, Emmanuel Macron, given winner of the 1er turn by the polls, was able to rely on his wife, First Lady Brigitte Macron. In fact, if it has a primarily symbolic role, it can be beneficial to the image that the French have of the LREM candidate. She has recently embarked on a number of initiatives and has met with political figures, not to mention all the times she has accompanied the President on his travels.
The diplomatic face of Brigitte Macron
In the midst of the Ukrainian war, Brigitte Macron wanted to get involved with the children who were victims of the Russian bombings. Thus complementing the action of her husband, who took part in numerous talks, emergency meetings and European summits to manage the diplomatic aspect of the crisis, she acted symbolically. She notably released an envelope of one million euros to the Red Cross through the Hospital Foundation, which she has chaired since June 2019, having taken over from Bernadette Chirac. She then attended the “concert for Ukraine” on March 8 and the program “La France face à la guerre” on TF1 on March 14… Before welcoming, on March 21, sick Ukrainian children in Orly airport alongside the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, and the Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, as part of the “convoys of life” operation for the evacuation of young patients Ukrainians to European countries that take care of them. But the most striking diplomatic exchange is surely the one she had with her Ukrainian counterpart, Olona Zelenksa. She sent him a letter of support, to which the latter replied with thanks on her Instagram account in mid-March, before ensuring, in an interview with the newspaper The Parisian on March 21, that his relations with Ms. Macron were “not just warm, but friendly”. What comfort in its position the First lady who masters the diplomatic codes.
Brigitte Macron’s social initiatives
Without her actions being directly linked to the presidential campaign, the First Lady contributes to enhancing the image of the presidential couple by working for social causes or for the poorest. Known for her correspondence with many French people, she follows her agenda to the letter, committing to the inclusion of people with disabilities, child protection and the fight against school bullying. This is how she led the new campaign of the 33th edition of the Yellow Pieces from January 12 to February 5, and that she went to hospitals several times with sick children. In addition, she has been teaching in the schools of the Institute of Vocations for Employment (LIVE) in Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) since September 2018 and Valence (Drôme) since March 2021, a support and refresher project for young adults over 25 years old. Another action, and not the least, is the fight she leads against school bullying and cyberbullying, in the wake of the measures announced and the bill tabled by her husband last November.
The entry into the campaign of Emmanuel and … Brigitte Macron
It took until fifteen days before this first round for Brigitte Macron to appear in one of her candidate husband’s campaign clips. On Friday January 25, she spent a few moments on the screen of the 4th episode of campaign images that Emmanuel Macron prepares with the “Avec vous” teams every Friday evening so that his supporters can discover behind the scenes of his meetings and his travels. She was present in the front row of the meeting of the candidate LREM at La Défense Arena on April 2, which brought together nearly 40,000 people. For the First Lady who ends her “quinquennium” with higher popularity than her husband, with 55% of French people polled by Ifop (survey published on March 2) who declared themselves satisfied with her against 39% for their Head of State, but above all 1/3 of those polled who consider that she is an “asset” for the re-election of her husband, the importance of the role and positivity of Brigitte Macron’s influence in this campaign are no longer in doubt. However, she appeared little on the screen during the last straight line in the race for the election.