The president and his former prime minister took part in the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the city’s liberation on Thursday.
Emmanuel Macron’s first crowd bath since he appointed Michel Barnier as prime minister took place in Le Havre, a city whose mayor is now a declared candidate for his succession. After presiding over the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Normandy port on Thursday, the head of state, followed a few meters away by Édouard Philippe, was first greeted with the usual smiles, selfies and thanks. Before questions were raised from the public.You are a hostage of the RN“, a man shouts at him. “PNo one is anyone’s hostageEmmanuel Macron retorts. The French have spoken. So we must respect all opinions and make compromises. Especially for those who agreed in the second round, the republican forces must work together.»
A refrain already sung all summer, when he tried to make all the parties bear what he calls “the republican arch“the responsibility of finding a formula to govern. Also questioned on purchasing power, Emmanuel Macron defends his economic record. “For seven years, taxes never increased.“As if to mark the date, while Michel Barnier announced his intention to improve the “justice fiscale».
We’re not going to go into pause mode until 2027
Emmanuel Macron
So here is the new Macron, the one who claims to now keep his distance from the daily running of affairs, and who now passes on to others the tasks that were his.We have a new era, with a Parliament that represents France in its diversity and which will require compromises.he then theorizes in front of the press. It is up to the government to carry out projects, to pass laws, but also to administer. The president has his own skills.»
No “pause mode until 2027”
If this “new era” sees some candidates for his succession becoming more and more agitated, the freshness of the Normandy air did not prevent the exchange of a few warm gestures between Emmanuel Macron and Édouard Philippe. The former prime minister displeased the presidential camp by confirming his candidacy for the “next presidential election” in an interview with Point last week, in the midst of political uncertainty over the choice of the new prime minister.He was a great prime minister to work with me.“, greets the head of state, before putting it back in his place all the same: “I’m mostly focused on what’s happening today and I want the country to succeed. We’re not going to put ourselves on pause until 2027.“As a warning to those who are already launching themselves into the race for the Élysée, while Emmanuel Macron continues to hammer home, in public and in private, that he will see out his second term.
At nightfall, the two men retired to the town hall. Before that, during a very solemn ceremony on the Place du Général de Gaulle, they took turns to pay tribute to the painful memory of the liberation of Le Havre, a city razed by the Allies during several days of intense bombing in September 1944. Édouard Philippe recalled “the bitterness of a collective trauma» followed by «the dramas of incomprehension and indifference». «A tear that eight decades have never completely healed“, added Emmanuel Macron, referring to “this infinite suffering of a city sacrificed to liberate its country».
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