That his first steps at Matignon already seem very complicated. During his big premiere at the National Assembly this Tuesday, François Bayrou had to defend himself from having favored his city of Pau on Monday despite the holding of a crisis council on Mayotte around the President of the Republic.
“Pau is in France […] I chaired the municipal council of my city from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. I consider that, in doing so, I was also in my place as a citizen and I intend to defend this idea,” he said. The Prime Minister also indicated to the boss of LFI deputies, Mathilde Panot, that he had followed the Beauvau meeting by videoconference. But in answering numerous questions about the situation in the French archipelago, the head of government once again got his feet stuck in the carpet.
“What a shame”
To justify the fact that he had not planned to go to Mayotte in the coming days, François Bayrou indicated to parliamentarians that Emmanuel Macron would definitely make the trip. “It is not customary for the President and the Prime Minister to leave the national territory at the same time,” he said, suggesting that Mayotte would not be a French department. His clumsy remarks, which probably evoked France, did not immediately arouse criticism in the Chamber, but they were immediately taken up by opposition deputies on social networks.
“Mr. Bayrou: Mayotte is France. What a shame,” reacted Clémence Guetté, the rebellious vice-president of the Assembly. “A colonial response. What contempt. Mayotte is France! Absolute shame,” added his rebellious colleague Thomas Portes on X. “Mayotte would not be on national territory according to Bayrou. We understand better why he preferred to attend the Pau municipal council. Shipwreck,” lamented communist senator Ian Brossat. “A new blunder from the Prime Minister,” also regretted RN MP Caroline Parmentier on the same social network.
This has already been two controversies in two days for the new tenant of Matignon.
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