the essential
Without filter, the column by Mémona Hintermann, senior reporter, former member of the Higher Audiovisual Council.
It took Marine Le Pen to challenge his role as head of the Armed Forces – within the framework of cohabitation – for Emmanuel Macron to show himself personally hurt by the “arrogance” of the RN. Stung while he was in the middle of the European Council in Brussels, here he is challenged, reduced to the stature of an inaugurator of chrysanthemums, like the tenants of the Elysée before De Gaulle. It took this injury of pride for him to no longer completely send back to back (for a moment, at least) the heirs of Jean Jaurès and those of Jules Guesde on one side, and on the other, those of Pierre Bousquet, this senior collobo official, member of the Waffen SS, founder of the National Front with Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Does the self-proclaimed President Jupiter finally realize his error in having opened the gates of hell by throwing France into the most dangerous electoral campaign of the post-war period? “Who are they to explain what the Constitution should be” asked the head of state after the RN’s taunt aimed at his office. But he didn’t know that? Naivety? Startle ? However, it is the Council of State – the highest administrative jurisdiction – which has described as far-right the movement which presents Jordan Bardella as the savior of a nation in distress. Doesn’t the far right have a history in France? Never too late to open your eyes to its culpable amalgamation, in the name of refusing extremes, as if the RN and the New Popular Front ranging from Raphaël Glücksmann to Jean-Luc Mélenchon via François Hollande, were a matter of white cap and white bonnet. To assert that the socialists are subject to… Insouciance is to accept that a cruel post-electoral boomerang will hit the country and not just what will remain of the Elysian power.
If the latest opinion polls confirm that the far right enjoys a largely entrenched support, it is not certain that it has already crossed and conquered all the dikes of society: the Le Penists are not in the majority within the entire electorate. No metastases yet. This is affirmed by Xavier Bertrand, one of the regional presidents among the most combative of the far right’s theses. There is a majority of angry people, he says. Which is different. Is there still time to react to make these legislative elections – without equivalent – a moment of truth without jumping into the void? Can we hope for a vote in full conscience, to determine the future of the country in the face of the strong surge of the extreme right recorded during the European elections? Or is it just a copy-paste vote?
The truth is that the game is not over. However, the RN is insinuating – psychological warfare – that nothing will change, that the young prodigy Bardella has already won the bet. Given the configuration of this two-round majority election launched in a cavalier fashion, given the large percentage of voters sure to vote but who, yesterday, still did not know for whom, and who, perhaps, will change their choices until the last moment, given the participation which should exceed 62%, given the atmosphere… given all these uncertainties, given the hope which can be crazy, no one knows if France will have a head like Picasso or Renoir in the summer of 2024 and especially after.
The concern that is shared during a random bit of conversation in a market or during a dog walk, reflects the extent of the great hullabaloo into which Emmanuel Macron has plunged us. But every French person registered on an electoral list has the right and the power to decide, right down to the last ballot slipped into a ballot box at the last second, the games depend on us, the People.
It is our responsibility and not that of X or Y who already sees himself on the steps of Matignon granted unshared power.
