the shattering return of a man from the past (and the past)

Normally, a “crossing the desert”is done far from the spotlight, in oblivion, even anonymity, but Manuel Valls chose to perform it in public for eight years. This ends today – for how long? – with his return to business under the patronage of François Bayrou. The former Prime Minister is appointed Minister in charge of Overseas Territories. With the rank of Minister of State.

Neither left nor center

Presented by some as a « prise » on the left, since he was a member of the Socialist Party, Manuel Valls is not even a hold in the center, he is a hold in the void. He had neither mandate nor party. His turn to the right, almost assumed, took place over time, like a disintegration. Disintegration of his political credit, first: after having been defeated by Benoît Hamon in the socialist primary, despite the support of almost the entire PS, the former Prime Minister of François Hollande made the choice of common sense for whom then seeks to redo the political cherry: supporting Emmanuel Macron. The same day, moreover, anxious not to put all his last eggs in the same basket, he had reached out to François Fillon in the columns of the New Obsdeclaring that he was ready to “find compromises with the parliamentary right”.

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Since then, his entire image has disintegrated, under his influence. The movement began with its maneuvers to obtain, without success, the nomination of the party of its former Minister of the Economy in the 2017 legislative elections, before resigning in September 2018 to try to win the mayoralty of Barcelona, ​​with the label on the right. Widely beaten, he also became the laughing stock of the Catalans, for his unfortunate parachute drop.

The permanent candidate

And this is where the real crossing of the desert began. With his status as former Prime Minister, he scours the TV sets with increasingly right-wing opinions, until he admits: in 2021, for the regional elections, he supports LR Valérie Pécresse. The transition is made in both countries.

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Since then, it has been available. Available for everything. Available everywhere. On the set of BFMTV, where he was a columnist for a while, he declared at the beginning of 2022 that he was ready to join a French government, a few years after having said that the rest of his career would be Spanish: “To govern again, I am made for this, I love it, I have this passion. I am a politician through and through. »

A few weeks later, the former head of government was beaten in the legislative elections by Stéphane Vojetta, a dissident Macronist candidate, despite his label as candidate of the presidential majority, in the fifth constituency of French people living abroad. The announcement of his defeat caused outpourings of joy, and even hatred, on social networks, forcing the former tenant of Matignon to deactivate his account on the social network.

The reward

After seven years of kicking Emmanuel Macron, Manuel Valls has, despite himself, become a recurring joke on social networks. With each rumor of a reshuffle, his name appears in the tweets of (for a time) well-inspired users, as a very willing candidate. This time it's it, he managed to come back.

Just a few weeks ago, being appointed to the Ministry of Overseas Territories would have unfairly provoked mocking reactions, as it is at once difficult, powerless and ungrateful, because it is far from the concerns of the French media. The destruction of Mayotte by a cyclone finally made this ministry, which many previously refused, very central. If he has time, after having spent so many years rebuilding his political capital, the new minister will have to rebuild Mayotte.