Bayrou responds to criticism of his trip to the municipal council, in the midst of a crisis in Mayotte

We had to wait 120 hours, not even that. Five days of calm, tranquility and reflection, disrupted by the violence of Cyclone Chido in Mayotte and the tragedies it caused. Five days during which he prepared to face the political “Himalaya” that stands before him, as François Bayrou, new Prime Minister, likes to say.

But a first controversy tainted the start of his lease: why did he go to the municipal council of Pau – a city of which he is the councilor – rather than being present in Paris for the crisis unit on the events who affected Mayotte? This is the remark made to him during the traditional “questions to the government” this Tuesday in the National Assembly.

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“Pau is in France”

Mathilde Panot, president of the rebellious group at the Palais Bourbon, regretted her absence: “You should not have gone to Pau but attended the crisis meeting. »

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“I have to tell you: Pau is in France,” said François Bayrou. “If I had been in a town hall in the 7th arrondissement or the town hall of Neuilly, you would have considered Madame that it was very good,” he added. “There is a break that perhaps you do not feel between life in the provinces and the circle of powers in Paris. We do not have the right to separate the province and the circle of powers in Paris. »

“I participated by video”

For the Prime Minister, chairing the municipal council of his commune, while the vote on the city budget was taking place, was obvious. “In Mayotte, there was the Minister of the Interior and it was the President of the Republic who chaired the crisis meeting, and I participated by video,” François Bayrou then explained.

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For him, he only did his civic duty. “Citizenship is not divided and I exercised my responsibility as a citizen by chairing the municipal council,” concluded the Prime Minister.