Emmanuel Macron wanted to declare himself as late as possible. He will find himself in a position to officially enter the campaign as a war unfolds in Ukraine. Despite all his attempts to find ways of de-escalation, the disaster scenario has come true. Vladimir Putin chose the use of force. What impact can this unprecedented situation have on the president’s campaign?
This is the question that arises in the entourage of Emmanuel Macron. A senior official from En Marche thinks that what will sway public opinion in favor of the Head of State is ” Emmanuel Macron’s own attitude “, his ability to make decisions that are not ” conditioned by political calculations “, as during the health crisis because everything that makes calculation is” lethal “, he adds. A way of saying that the priority issue for Emmanuel Macron is to appear as a head of state whose sole objective is to protect the French. A way also to discredit the attacks of his adversaries who denounced a diplomacy of ” strokes “like Marine Le Pen or regretted an attempt” instrumentalization » from the Ukrainian crisis to « electoral purposes like Valérie Pécresse.
The war in Ukraine will impact the presidential campaign. And it will lead the candidates to position themselves in relation to Russia, some are ” quasi vassals “Faced with Moscow, judges an official of the majority.
The stakes are crucial, barely a month and a half before the first round of the presidential election and when Emmanuel Macron will have to announce his candidacy, therefore entering the electoral fight in parallel with the management of a major international crisis.
Macron contracts to postpone his declaration of candidacy
This is one of the consequences of this crisis, it rejected the declaration of candidacy of the president. The entry into the campaign of Emmanuel Macron should have been announced this week, confides a tenor of the majority. The situation in Ukraine has everything “ jostled “. And the master of the clocks had to resolve to turn the dial a few more times before declaring himself the fault of the master of the Kremlin. Emmanuel Macron who wanted to retain his ability to ” adapt “, to decide “at the last minute » from the moment of the formalization of his candidacy was even more pushed, almost forced, by the war in Ukraine. A relative believes that he will choose the moment of his statement to ” intuition another asserts that the real question is perception, climate “, that he will act according to ” the emotion of the moment “. But everyone says it: we’ll have to go. It remains to be decided what form the statement will take. ” Anything that would give the impression of lightness would be out of step with the gravity of the moment. But you don’t have to lose the thread of a voluntarist, even optimistic discourse”. In fact, take up the challenge of remaining president and at the same time becoming a candidate.