Prime Minister François Bayrou goes to the bedside of those affected by Cyclone Chido, in Mayotte, Sunday December 29 and Monday December 30. In the meantime, Emmanuel Macron is still at Fort de Brégançon, in the Var, from where he is refining his traditional speech on December 31, to send his wishes to the French. The president wants to turn the page on a complicated political year.
A year ago, Emmanuel Macron promised the rearmament of the nation, a year of “French pride”looking ahead to the summer of the Olympic Games, already imagining the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris… “Since then, we have experienced curious things”laments a former minister who has just returned his morocco, still traumatized by the dissolution, turned upside down by his whirlwind stint in government. The most ephemeral lease under the Fifth Republic for a Prime Minister, censored from the debate on the Social Security budget.
The accounts are simple. This year, four Prime Ministers – Elisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal, Michel Barnier, François Bayrou – and as many governments. The latest casting was revealed on a day of national mourning, the day before Christmas Eve. “Macron is like the Grinch, he stole Christmas from us”, mocks a power advisor, tested by hours of waiting and uncertainty, to the point of portraying a head of state “completely weakened, which no longer has the same authority”.
But according to one of his loyal visitors, the head of state can still bounce back: “Macron broke his toy, he must repair it”. His last speech dates back to December 5, the day after the vote on the motion of censure, a first since 1962, recognizing then that his decision to dissolve was not always understood. “The French are capable of forgiving him”, a close friend is convinced.
The president constantly spins the metaphor of reconstruction, daring the parallel between Mayotte and the rebirth of Notre-Dame, promising to return there in the coming months as he had watched over the construction site of the cathedral, always in search of a trace to leave in history. 2025 will mark the end of the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation. “A useful last year”, dares a deputy from her camp. 2026 will be the year of the municipal elections, 2027 that of the end of his mandate.
Emmanuel Macron prepares his wishes out of sight, at Fort de Brégançon and with discretion. A tweet of support for the inhabitants of Mayotte on the evening of the 24th, another in tribute to the miners who disappeared during the Liévin mining disaster 50 years ago. Emmanuel Macron is also taking advantage of the confectioners' truce. He has never commented on the composition of the new government which nevertheless gives pride of place to his faithful, to the detriment of those of Gabriel Attal. A team that he will meet on January 3 for a first council of ministers.
The Head of State has no longer participated in crisis meetings in Mayotte since his return from the archipelago on Sunday December 22. But he keeps himself informed of the situation live, assures those around him who report various phone calls, particularly relating to the international situation, to prepare for his speech scheduled for Tuesday evening at 8 p.m.
Reconstruction, the idea that a people of builders can recover from anything, should be the common thread. “You have to reinvent yourself, find the view of 2017”a friend recently advised him, convinced that Emmanuel Macron did not “not afraid of the crowd”but forced to note that the image given this year was that of a president “cornered in his castle”.
