The President of the Republic denounced a gathering organized by “leaders of the National Rally” to “insult France”, during his trip to the Mahorais archipelago, after the passage of Cyclone Chido.
Emmanuel Macron defends himself after the controversy. In an interview given to the Mahorese press, including the public service channel Mayotte La 1ere, the President of the Republic returned to the remarks he had made during a gathering of affected residents in Pamandzi, in Petite-Terre , on the evening of December 19. In a few hours, his words went viral on social networks and scandalized political opposition.
The president denounced a rally organized by the far right aimed at “insult France”. “Last night, we will be clear: leaders of the National Rally saw fit to organize a militant rally and to insult France by saying that it was doing nothing. And I told the truth”he defended himself, in his interview published in the local press after the controversy. And to add: “I can’t let people insult our country like that and, because it’s France, the president gets angry!”
Thursday evening, in the center of the crowd, microphone in hand, Emmanuel Macron responded to accusations of state inaction in the face of the disaster pointed out by the local population. “Don’t pit people against each other! If you pit people against each other, we're screwed, because you're happy to be in France. Because if it wasn’t France you would be 10,000 times more in trouble!”he chanted vigorously, to the boos of the Mahorais. “We cannot want to be a French department and say that it does not work when France is in solidarity. Everyone must respect each other. We will last until the end if we are a team”he also maintained, his tone serious.
“What contempt and what arrogance”
Emmanuel Macron's comments outraged the political class. On the left, Sandrine Rousseau, environmentalist deputy, for example castigated the“arrogant and lecturing attitude” of the head of state. “We have the greatest human catastrophe since the Second World War and we are putting on a Macron show. It's not up to par.”she continued on the set of France 2. The president of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly and elected rebel, Éric Coquerel, declared that this exchange “self-explanatory”. “Message to those who believe that he must not leave: who imagines this still possible for 30 months?” until the end of the presidential term in 2027, he asked in his post published on X.
On the right, the deputy Sébastien Chenu had estimated on RTL that these words were not likely to “to comfort our Mahorese compatriots who, through this kind of expression, always have the feeling of being treated separately”. “What contempt and arrogance towards these French people who are suffering from a natural disaster which is ravaging the Island of Mayotte! Emmanuel Macron's behavior has definitely never been up to the crucial challenges of our great nation.had also denounced, more strongly, the RN deputy Christophe Bentz.
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