When his name was mentioned for the Ministry of National Education, during previous reshuffles, Julien Denormandie had pointed out an argument to explain that his appointment would be complicated: the offspring of this father of four children attended private school more than the public school. The sense of anticipation is not what characterized Amélie Oudéa-Castéra in the first controversy she had to deal with, just after being chosen for this portfolio.
With the Attal 1 government, we announced and praised the return of political heavyweights and the end of the “amateurs” of civil society. Amélie Oudéa-Castéra showed that she still had a long way to go to join the leaders. The Minister of Knowledge is accused of having started her mission with two fake news stories. If she is being attacked, she first said on Friday, it is because her speech during the transfer of power, a few hours earlier, was “irreproachable”. On the other hand, the accusation of uncontrolled absenteeism in the Parisian establishment of Littré is strongly contested, as reported Release. It was also from parents’ unions that the most pointed criticism came: “She is so out of touch that she does not understand what she is saying, she does not know the reality of this country .” The ministerial response to the controversy is indeed striking in its disconnection.
“Social separatism”, underlines the socialist deputy Jérôme Guedj, “class government”, adds the communist Fabien Roussel: the blow can strike because it does not only concern the new Minister of Education. Gabriel Attal, by his career as by his chosen land (Hauts-de-Seine), does not spontaneously appear as the best placed to address the France of the yellow vests – or the France of low that Jean-Pierre Raffarin evoked in his time.
“Performative speech”
Until now, he has been able to compensate for this flaw with political know-how, which the appointment to Matignon will now put to the test. With a risk: that an excess of communication increases rather than curbs the risk of disconnection. During his express visit to Education, Gabriel Attal set a rule for himself: speak less to speak better, so to speak. He advocated “performative speech”.
In Dijon on Saturday, the Prime Minister gave the impression of doing the exact opposite of what he was recommending: the promise of an additional 32 billion for the health system above all looks like a false announcement effect, to the extent where it is a trajectory already planned and already adopted. Gérald Darmanin rarely expresses himself by chance. In THE Figaro this Monday, the Minister of the Interior slips: “The more people move away from politics, the more you must demonstrate by example that things are changing. Words are not enough.”
Emmanuel Macron, who will perform on Tuesday in a major show in the form of a prime time press conference, is watched by this other form of disconnection: verbal disconnection. On December 31, for example, he said: “We will continue to reestablish authority wherever it is lacking in the face of incivility and delinquency” – which does not exactly correspond to how the population feels. “I think it talks too much. There’s too much staging.” It was one of the grunts from Macronie who confided it a few weeks ago. One of those that we no longer listen to today.
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