The fervor of the public meeting suddenly gave way to sadness and astonishment when Édouard Philippe, just after concluding his speech in front of several hundred executives from his party, Horizons, announced the death of Nicolas Florian, former mayor of Bordeaux. A minute of silence was observed in his memory. “He deserves it and we loved him,” said the former Prime Minister, visibly moved.
“It ruins the atmosphere,” he adds. However, the atmosphere was at its zenith this Sunday, January 26 at the Bordeaux Convention Center for the first Horizons interregional congress, while waiting for more thematic meetings, in Lille around the method and the calendar, then in Marseille about sovereign authority. Édouard Philippe held the microphone for almost three quarters of an hour “but the commentators say that I don't talk enough. I will say more in the coming months. »
“Listen to the boss”
This meeting recalled the heyday of the RPR when Jacques Chirac, after resigning from Matignon, created it in 1976. While specifying that his party supports the government, “without red lines but with clear lines”, the mayor of Le Havre does not never mentioned the names of Emmanuel Macron or François Bayrou, saluting on the other hand Bruno Retailleau, Gérald Darmanin or Sébastien Lecornu.
Another common point is the cult of the leader. Édouard Philippe maintains enough humor (his speech proved it) to avoid hubris but all the speakers complimented his courage, his vision, his dignity, his solidity. “After my speech, I will sit down and listen like you to the leader,” says Christophe Béchu, secretary general of the party.
-Édouard Philippe greets the secretary general of his party, Horizons, Christophe Béchu, mayor of Angers, who promises a “very political” year 2025
Photo Guillaume Bonnaud/South West
A leader who, despite a not very rosy international situation and a Trump, “Caesar who relies on the crowd, social networks and cryptocurrency”, a Europe that is too slow and too techno, a France that does not work enough and spends too much, refuses to give in to discouragement and suggests “a start that will make some noise”. Starting with the ovations.
