Macron “within range of yelling”: where does the anger end, where does the insult begin?

In 1962, during a de Gaulle rally on the Champs-Elysées, a man who had dared to shout “Retired!” – it is true that the general was then over 62 and even 64 years old – had been fined 500 francs. Times are changing… Since he resumed his pilgrim’s staff, after the validation by the Constitutional Council of the pension reform, Emmanuel Macron – visiting this Thursday, May 4 in Charente-Maritime – hears green and not ripe . And the tone used towards him leaves respect at a safe distance.

When they meet the Head of State, some, far from being intimidated, are over-motivated. We now speak to the president as parents would not like their children to speak to them: “We don’t want your retirement, what don’t you understand in that?” “Mr. Macron, I just wanted to know what it was like to have such a corrupt government? We’ve never had a government with so many corrupt people, you’re going to fall soon!” “You’ve been talking nonsense about it every day for five years!” In Alsace, on April 19, the Head of State is insulted by three people, who accompany their words with arms of honor. They will be tried in September for insulting a person holding public authority.

The offense of offense abolished in 2013

There is what comes under the judiciary, there is what comes under societal evolution. On August 5, 2013, a law was passed abolishing the offense of insulting the President of the Republic – the one that had earned the 500 franc fine for the man who wanted to send the general into retirement. Fallen into disuse in recent decades, the offense was brought up to date in 2008. A person who brandished a sign on which he had written “Break off pov’con”, during a trip by Nicolas Sarkozy, had been sentenced to a principle sentence of 30 euros, confirmed on appeal, before the European Court of Human Rights found the sanction disproportionate.

The President of the Republic is no longer subject to a specific law. According to article 33 of the penal code, “any outrageous expression, terms of contempt or invective which does not contain the imputation of any fact” aimed at a public official, constitutes an outrage and can be punished by one year in prison and 15 000 euro fine. Already during the first five-year term, contempt proceedings against Emmanuel Macron have been initiated on several occasions, resulting in a simple reminder of the law. On the other hand, Damien Tarel, who had slapped Emmanuel Macron during a visit to the Drôme in June 2021, was sentenced to eighteen months in prison, four of which are firm – the aggression was physical and not verbal.

It happened to François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac to be taken to task during their trips to the provinces, so all it took was a good word to get away with it. “Mitterrand, get the hell out of here!” “It rhymes, but it’s a poor rhyme,” replied the socialist. “Asshole”, had launched a local resident to Jacques Chirac who left the church of Bormes-les-Mimosas in 2001. “Delighted ! Me, it’s Jacques Chirac”, had replied the Corrézien. “Oh no, don’t touch me! You’re dirtying me!”: On February 23, 2008, at the Agricultural Show, a fellow did not take any gloves to refuse to shake hands with Nicolas Sarkozy. The latter’s reply entered the legend: “Break up poor b…”

The desacralization of the presidential function and the lowering of politics as a whole have accelerated the phenomenon. The desire of all those responsible to “put themselves within reach of a shouting match”, an expression taken up and therefore validated by Emmanuel Macron himself in 2021, facilitates a great freedom of tone, to say things modestly. Where then should the red line be drawn between what is acceptable and what is less so? The current president also pays for one of his own formulas, which angry citizens often bring out: his famous “Let them come get me”, launched in the middle of the Benalla affair.

Restoring the famous article 26 of the law of 1881 (on “the offense to the President of the Republic”) is obviously not in tune with the times. But Emmanuel Macron is worried about the drift. Interviewed by journalist Corinne Lhaïk in President Burglar (Plural editions), he issued a warning: “The offense of insulting the president has been repealed in the name of freedom of expression. But we must not forget that it is the institutions and not the man who are attacked. In a democracy, because there is freedom of conscience, of debate, because there is freedom to vote, you have to be intractable with hate in speech and even more so in action. […] A good part of this violence, we must not look for legitimization, there is none.