Emmanuel Macron and Édouard Philippe commemorated together the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Le Havre. During a crowd bath, the president made a statement marking their disagreement.
Édouard Philippe “was a great Prime Minister”, but “I am mostly focused on what is happening today”, declared Emmanuel Macron on Thursday evening, September 12. The President of the Republic was questioned by BFMTV during a crowd bath, organized in Le Havre following the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the city. “We are not going to put ourselves on pause until 2027, I think that the priority is to work to deal with the issue of the cost of living, health, education… this is what the government that the Prime Minister I appointed a few days ago is currently forming is going to do.”
A direct dig at Édouard Philippe, who had declared in The Point to be a candidate in the 2027 presidential election. The disagreement between the two men is well known, even if they often put on a show in front of the cameras. A few hours earlier, the mayor of Le Havre and the head of state had displayed a cordial understanding during the ceremony. A long and warm handshake, smiles, a presidential lectern for two… They each gave a speech recounting the battles to liberate the Normandy port. No word on the current political situation, the time was solemn and historical. Edouard Philippe simply “sincerely thanked” the President of the Republic for demonstrating, by his presence, “the importance that the Nation now attaches” to this painful episode in the history of the Normandy city.
Did the President of the Republic and the Mayor of Le Havre put aside their differences for one evening? This barb sent by Emmanuel Macron tends to testify to the contrary. If their disagreement is now well known, Emmanuel Macron and his former Prime Minister made a point of honor to display their cordiality. A good understanding that was self-evident, given what unites them politically. Their alliance has become the cement of the central bloc, which itself supports the presidency of the Republic and the future government.
Emmanuel Macron’s resignation, a credible scenario for Édouard Philippe
Edouard Philippe needs Emmanuel Macron: his political party, Horizons, was born from the political vitality of Macronism and was built on the electoral agreement of the parties supporting the head of state, as was the case again in the last legislative elections. Emmanuel Macron needs Edouard Philippe: the latter allows the political junction between Renaissance and LR, which has become the heart of the reactor of the very relative majority that will support the Barnier government. And the head of state is keen on this coupling, which allows him to remain partly in control. In short, the two men must get along. And show, as this Thursday, September 12 in Le Havre, during the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of the city, that they can discuss and work towards their common interests.
The fact remains that the last post-dissolution tremors have left their mark. The head of state probably sighed very loudly in his office when he heard Edouard Philippe, in June, having fun with a journalist on television, marking a first break with the Elysée. “Emmanuel Macron killed the presidential majority. He dissolved it. It wasn’t me who left, it wasn’t rebels who would have annoyed him. He decided to dissolve it. Very well, we’ll move on, but something else can’t be exactly the same thing as before,” he said very seriously.
His interview in The Pointon September 3, generated a new disappointment at the presidential palace. The former Prime Minister declared both that he was a candidate to succeed Emmanuel Macron, but also that he was ready if the latter were forced to resign, a scenario that he therefore considers credible. Another kindness: Edouard Philippe slipped in that the head of state had plunged the country into a rare political crisis, pointing out the danger of “immobility” and the poor budgetary management of the government.
“Macron will have only one objective: to atomize Philippe”
Contacted by several political journalists, Emmanuel Macron’s entourage did not hide the President’s anger. “The French don’t like traitors very much, without Macron, what would he have become in 2017? Maybe Under-Secretary of State for Transport, nothing more. He owes him everything,” a close friend of the Head of State told RTL, adding, pointing out a form of contempt for the mayor of Le Havre: “The President has made up his mind about Édouard Philippe and he is not very worried about 2027.” A minister close to Emmanuel Macron concurred with the same media: “Already that he has been the most withdrawn in this campaign, speaking out only to criticize is indelicate. It is not what we are entitled to expect from a partner of the majority, adds an advisor. It is not very dignified.”
Another advisor to Emmanuel Macron, alongside Politicomakes the bitter observation that Edouard Philippe is putting spokes in the president’s wheels: “In January, he refused to return to the government, in June, he did not want to go to the legislative elections, this summer, when he wanted to rebuild the majority, he was completely absent”. The list of disappointments is therefore getting longer, to the point of having angered Gérald Darmanin, who has nevertheless become closer to the mayor of Le Havre in recent weeks. “He is furious”, confided a close friend of the resigning minister to Politico. The latter even analyzed the situation with the certainty that the head of state would not forgive him for this very personal attitude: “Macron will have only one objective, it is to atomize Philippe”.
Edouard Philippe, as a good observer of political life, necessarily lucid about the president’s resentment, is sticking to his plan to conquer the Elysée, having already turned the page. “I am trying with the political force that I preside over, with the Horizons deputies and senators to stabilize the situation, to help form a stable government, but I am also concerned about what comes next,” he said on BFMTV on September 11. “My program will come when the time comes,” he warned, specifying all the same so that it is clear that the break is complete: “It will be neither Thatcher nor Macron, I think it will be Philippe, because I am not trying to imitate anyone.”