Alexandre Chauveau / Photo credit: AURELIEN MORISSARD / POOL / AFP
While the mayors of France are suffering more and more violence, the President of the Republic has decided not to go to the 105th Salon des Maires which opens this Tuesday in Paris, even if it will receive nearly a thousand councilors at the Élysée. Practicality or disenchantment? Between Emmanuel Macron and the mayors, the relationship has never been simple.
Is there water in the gas in the relationship between Emmanuel Macron and the mayors of France? The 105th Salon des mayors opens this Tuesday at Porte de Versailles in Paris but Emmanuel Macron will not attend. He prefers to receive nearly a thousand city officials directly at the Élysée on Wednesday. The president must attend a videoconference for the preparation of the G20, the Élysée justifies itself. Between the two political authorities, contact is difficult, with a relationship marked by incomprehension or even hatred, between a president who has never held a local mandate, and city councilors who accuse him of having considerably reduced their field of influence. ‘action.
Poor understanding of elected officials’ issues
In 2017, Emmanuel Macron was whistled at the Salon des Maires. According to them, the abolition of the housing tax leads to a significant loss of financial autonomy. For Benjamin Morel, doctor in political science, the head of state maintains a Jupiterian relationship with elected officials, marked in particular by his repeated absences from the Salon des Maires. “We have a relationship that is both very vertical, and often a poor understanding of the issues of elected officials. Autonomy in fiscal matters reduced drastically, and alongside that, feedback from the field, requests which are renowned for being little or misheard,” explains the specialist.
And this divide is also illustrated by the lack of local establishment of the presidential party, which suffered failure during the last municipal elections. If the Yellow Vest crisis and that of Covid-19 have reminded us of the importance of mayors, the relationship between Emmanuel Macron and local elected officials has never really improved.