Emmanuel Macron's new day of waltz-hesitation, forced to push back the deadline he had set for himself

It's a little after 7:30 p.m., Thursday, December 12. The presidential Falcon has just landed at Villacoublay airport, in the Paris region. On board, the Head of State and a handful of advisors, returning from an official trip to Poland. What did the President of the Republic have in mind that evening? Did he make his choice? The political-media world is growing impatient, hanging on the lips of Emmanuel Macron.

The day before, from the Elysée, the president had assured the representatives of the different political forces present in Parliament, La France insoumise (LFI) and the National Rally (RN) aside, that he would appoint a prime minister “within forty-eight hours”replacing Michel Barnier, overthrown by a motion of censure a week earlier. We are there. “Is it for today or tomorrow? “, asks the banner of the BFM-TV news channel.

The President of the Republic has just cut short his trip to Warsaw. It's a sign. But from Poland, throughout the day, Emmanuel Macron seemed far removed from national concerns. Alongside the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, he discusses the war, support for Ukraine or the necessary revival of Europe in the face of competition from China and the United States. Then he rages against the free trade treaty between the European Union and the Mercosur countries that the President of the Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, signed on December 6. “Our agriculture will not be sacrificed to the bottom of a mercantilism of the century before”, he shouts from Warsaw, carefully avoiding any interaction with journalists.

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