Emmanuel Macron’s startling and controversial campaign

For several months, Emmanuel Macron and his close advisers have been looking for how to dramatize his declaration of candidacy for a second term at the Elysee Palace to make it a political event, knowing that his will to stay five more years is hardly in doubt. . Mission accomplished after the river interview granted on January 5 by the outgoing president to the “Parisien”. It created a political earthquake.

First, Emmanuel Macron leaves little doubt about his next candidacy. “There is no false suspense. I want to. As soon as there are sanitary conditions which allow it, and that I have clarified this subject, in myself and in relation to the political equation, I will say what it is with the same freedom, because I don’t want to forbid me anything, ”he says. Barring a last minute accident, he will therefore be a candidate.

“The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off”

But it was above all Emmanuel Macron’s words on vaccination and antivaxes that started the storm. Recalling that 90% of French people have been vaccinated, he attacks the remaining 10%, that is to say the 5 million adults who remain reluctant and have not crossed the door of a vaccination center . Some still ask for reassurance, others are more militant and denounce vaccines. The antivax planet is also the site of a particularly hostile opposition to Emmanuel Macron.

The words are hard since Emmanuel Macron fully assumes to want to “piss off” them. “Me, I’m not for pissing off the French. I plague the administration all day long when it blocks them. Well there, the unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so we will continue to do so, until the end, ”he declares.

“I’m not going to put them in jail, I’m not going to forcibly vaccinate them. And so, you have to tell them: from January 15, you will no longer be able to go to the restaurant, you will no longer be able to take a cannon, you will no longer be able to go for a coffee, you will no longer be able to go to the theater, you will no longer be able to take a cannon. no longer going to the movies, ”he adds. The executive assumes to make the health pass, then the vaccination pass, a virtual obligation of vaccination.

Uproar and interruption at the Assembly

These comments sparked an uproar. From the far left to the far right, they have been denounced by the entire political class. “A President of the Republic cannot make the remarks which have been made”, denounced to the Assembly the President of the Republicans (LR), Christian Jacob. The trouble went to the ranks of the macronie. “A united Nation supposes a united people”, commented on Twitter the deputy the Republic in March (LREM) of Paris, Hugues Renson.

As of Wednesday morning, the relatives of Emmanuel Macron stepped up to defend him. “The President of the Republic speaks frankly and says things. There is no question of ostracizing the French, ”defended the boss of LREM, Stanislas Guérini.

“Sanitary Benalla”

Social networks naturally got carried away and, on Twitter, the hashtag #Macrondestitution had tens of thousands of occurrences a few hours after the disclosure of the presidential remarks. The first direct consequence of these declarations: the Palais-Bourbon ignited again and the examination of the bill aimed at adopting new health measures, including the vaccination pass, was suspended overnight. It had already been interrupted Monday evening because of the inability of the government to obtain a majority to continue the debates after midnight.

Faced with heated opposition, the chairman of the session, LR Marc Le Fur, stopped short of examining the text. It will resume this Wednesday at 3 p.m. “The President deliberately chose to hysterize the debate, perhaps by betting on the fact that his opposition would leave,” said PCF deputy Sébastien Jumel. The President has just distorted the text presented to us […] This is a sanitary Benalla ”. In July 2018, the Benalla affair, the first crisis in Emmanuel Macron’s mandate, erupted during the examination of the reform of the institutions in the National Assembly. They had never resumed and the reform was buried. The opposition deputies asked, in vain, Prime Minister Jean Castex to come and explain himself.

The big comeback of little phrases

These remarks mark the great return of the controversial words and small phrases that Emmanuel Macron had made a specialty of before his election, when he was Minister of the Economy, and at the start of his term at the Elysee Palace. He had since stopped, even addressing a mea culpa during his interview on TF1 and LCI a month ago. “I have learned and without a doubt that I am more sensitive to certain things than I was before”, he declared. During his vows, he sent messages of unity. “Let us remain united, benevolent, united,” he declared on December 31 from the Elysee Palace.

But the urgency of the campaign, less than 100 days before the first round of the presidential election, forces him to be more offensive. Facing Valérie Pécresse, Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, Emmanuel Macron certainly displays flattering scores in the polls for the first round. But nothing is played. Basically, he knows he is supported by a large majority of French people who are in favor of vaccination. On the form, Emmanuel Macron leaves his presidential clothes to take those of a candidate, taking risks and being ready to split in opinion, at the risk of shocking.