One dreams out loud of being President of the Republic. The other, prevented from running again by the Constitution, will no longer be in two and a half years, but would like to be remembered. Not right away. Edouard Philippe and Emmanuel Macron were together on Thursday, September 12, in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the port city. Rivals or accomplices? From the martyred city, delivered from Nazi occupation at the cost of its total destruction and countless civilian deaths, the Head of State and his former Prime Minister are trying, on this memorial day, to put aside their dissensions and disagreements. “The dead are watching us”they explained the day before at the Elysée.
At the podium, one speech follows another. Edouard Philippe pays tribute to the city of which he is mayor by quoting Tolstoy. Emmanuel Macron prefers Baudelaire. But each is full of consideration for the other. “I know how much you love this city, its architecture and its lights.”greets the former prime minister thanking “ sincerely “ the president of the republic of“to honor by one’s presence” this ceremony. “Dear Edward”Emmanuel Macron slips back to the mayor, greeting his “passionate devotion”, like that of his predecessors, towards the people of Le Havre.
Political comedy? According to Emmanuel Macron’s entourage, the head of state would be indifferent to the barbs launched in recent days by the former member of the Republicans (LR). In an interview with Point Published on September 3, Edouard Philippe officially announces his candidacy for 2027, without excluding the possibility of an early presidential election. A taboo. A mistake in the eyes of the faithful of the President of the Republic who know that he is weakened by the legislative elections that deprive him of a majority in Parliament.
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Isn’t his ally throwing the tenant of the Elysée into the abyss by insinuating that it is possible that he will not complete his term? We are outraged. “In politics, tense mistakes are more serious than grammatical mistakes. Edouard Philippe was prime minister for three years, his party was in the majority. It didn’t seem obvious to me to consider that it was against the president that the spotlight had to be turned.”lashed out on RTL on September 8, the leader of the Democratic Movement, François Bayrou.
Above the ambitions of each other
But Edouard Philippe persists. If the boss of Horizons swears to the daily Paris-NormandySeptember 5, not to be “in an attempt to destabilize the President of the Republic”his entourage confirms that for “drawing a future”it’s necessary “walk on toes”. Accused by his detractors of being weak-willed, the former director general of the UMP assured, in an interview with BFM-TV on September 11, that if he is not “not impatient”he is ” determined “. His program? “It won’t be Thatcher or Macron, I think it will be Philippe!”he said, assuming the « rupture ».
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