Emmanuel Macron receives representatives of religions this Monday, November 13 at the Elysée. A meeting organized the day after the demonstration against anti-Semitism in which the head of state did not participate.
Emmanuel Macron met with representatives of religions in France. The meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. this Monday, November 13, at the Elysée Palace, according to the press release which does not specify the names of the participants, nor the organization of this interview, in particular on the collective or individual reception of the leaders of religious authorities .
The meeting between the Head of State and representatives of religions takes place “as an extension of the call for the unity of the Nation and the fraternity that[Emmanuel Macron] launched in his letter to the French” on the evening of Saturday November 11. Above all, it comes the day after the “civic march against anti-Semitism” during which the absence of the President of the Republic was noticed and sometimes criticized.
“I have never been to a demonstration of any kind”
This absence is a “fault” for Republican boss Eric Ciotti or the source of disappointment for members of the Jewish community. The representative of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) Yonathan Arfi regretted the non-participation of the Head of State in the demonstration: “His presence would have made this event even more historic.” A great-granddaughter of Captain Dreyfus, Yaël Perl Ruiz, who spoke with the President of the Republic on this subject, said she was “very disappointed” on the set of BFMTV. “I would have liked it to be the president who led France to this demonstration, that he was in the front row and that it was a strong word from him,” he added.
Emmanuel Macron justified his absence by his role which is that of “building the unity of the country”, “to make decisions, to say words when they need to be said and to act, otherwise I can demonstrate every week” . “I have never been to a demonstration of any kind,” added the head of state. Demonstrating is indeed an exercise to which former Presidents of the Republic have rarely undertaken; we can still cite François Mitterrand in 1990 who participated in the rally against anti-Semitism after the desecration of Jewish graves in a cemetery in Carpentras. Another example in 2015 when François Hollande demonstrated after the attacks against Charlie Hebdo and a Hyper Cacher store.
Is the interview with representatives of religions one of Emmanuel Macron’s ways of acting? Was it planned or was it organized in recent hours given the disappointment expressed by the Jewish community? The presidency has not announced any speeches following the meeting with the heads of the authorities religious, but an intervention by the head of state is not excluded. Those of representatives of religions are also expected.