No question of making waves, even with the wind in its sails. His popularity, Édouard Philippe consolidated it on the ground while he supported the Macronist candidates… and consolidated his own party founded in October. With 42 qualified in the second round under his banner, he is the man on whom the head of state will have to rely to obtain a majority. Always “loyal and free”, the mayor of Le Havre already sees further but advances in stages. Having a group in the Assembly is the first of a long, solo race.
In his office at the town hall of Le Havre, Édouard Philippe did the accounts. “I believe that an absolute majority is achievable,” said the former Prime Minister. Of course, the score of the candidates of the macronist camp is down compared to 2017 and the first round of the presidential election in April. But Le Havrais does not throw stones at anyone: “It is undoubtedly more difficult to win when you are in a logic of continuity rather than in novelty. The training effect is less. But it is essential that the president has a stable and solid majority. Emmanuel Macron’s first head of government will therefore spare no effort by next Sunday. And not just to support the candidates of his party, Horizons. If more than a quarter of his 58 flock is on the mat in the first round, Édouard Philippe judges that, for a formation launched in the fall of 2021, this baptism of fire is satisfactory. The only presidential majority candidate elected in the first round – Yannick Favennec, in Mayenne – is one of his own, he rejoices.
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With 42 candidates still in the running, including 24 in the lead, the parliamentary group seems assured. It will fill the coffers. But the mayor of Le Havre does not want to dwell on these “shopkeeper” discussions, knowing that Emmanuel Macron’s entourage would quickly blame him. The favorite personality of the French remains however one of the best assets of the presidential camp. To speak to right-wing voters, he is still in the best position. Especially since the maneuvers of the Head of State with his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, have not really been crowned with success. The ex only brought him five outgoing LR deputies, when Édouard Philippe rallied many mayors of large and medium-sized cities (Angers, Ajaccio, Reims, Angoulême, Vannes, etc.) to his panache. Rallying which, he believes, will ensure next Sunday the election of deputies from his local networks. On the ground, the candidates are tearing up “Edouard”. In the campaign since May 14 – he started in Montbrison – Le Havrais visited 40 constituencies, met 80 candidates, recorded 50 videos, wrote 90 words of support. This represents nearly half of the candidates engaged under the banner of the presidential majority: Together. Acclaimed by the right wing as by the left wing of the macronie, Édouard Philippe comes where it is claimed. And brings luck: all the candidates supported in Alsace on Friday passed the first round, and this was the case in eight of the nine “circos” of the Alpes-Maritimes where he passed at the end of the week.
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He plays it like Chirac
In his travels, he is not content to deploy his 1.94 meter. He plays it like Chirac. In Alsace, he chained visits to Altkirch, Haguenau, Colmar and Strasbourg. He swallowed beer, pretzel and kouglof. Multiplied photos and handshakes, until exhaustion. Handled humor as an old campaigner. ” Hello ! Give me a plane and I’ll make you Tom Cruise! he says, hilarious, to an optician who offers him a pair of sunglasses. “Mr. Philippe, we are counting on you for 2027”, thanks the trader. “Me too”, replies Édouard Philippe without disassembling himself. A double campaign, in a way. For Macron and for him. Everywhere, he measures his popularity, not fooled either by the “seen on TV” effect. His rating with women is also impressive. The cashiers of the Leclerc de Mulhouse almost make him a guard of honor. He is amused: “Hello Madame, maybe Mademoiselle. Everywhere, he takes his time, enters the stores. “I am no longer in charge and I am not a candidate. But this warm welcome is nice, ”he relishes.
In the car, between Haguenau and Strasbourg, he worries about the “astonishing” climate in the country. The presidential victory was “absorbed very quickly”, according to him. “People describe an overheated economy. The bosses talk about their recruitment difficulties and, at the same time, they say that their margins are suffering because of inflation. We feel a side “so far so good but it will not last”. Concerned about the proper keeping of the nation’s accounts, he is skeptical about the checkbook policy defended by the executive and supported by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. He considers the appointment of Elisabeth Borne “coherent”, in the logic of that of Jean Castex, his successor at Matignon. In short, profiles less political than his. And personalities who will not overshadow the president. Cautious about the first steps of this government of “continuity”, the former Prime Minister has no opinion on the National Council for Refoundation, Macron II’s flagship idea. He just murmurs that he doesn’t understand what this name means… He takes the opportunity to debunk the rumor that announced him as Minister of the Armed Forces. Emmanuel Macron never offered it to him. And the person concerned admits that he did not really want to.
He advises to look at the road rather than the rear view mirror
Pretzel and local beer… Airs of Chirac in the countryside at the Café de l’espoir in Altkirch, in the third district of Haut-Rhin.
© Alvaro Canovas
Not really surprised by the results of the first round of the legislative elections, he advises to look at the road rather than the rear view mirror. And was silent about his criticisms. “The voters told us things. You have to listen to them seriously. I don’t think you have to dramatize. You have to say what the Nupes would mean for the country, and what we want to do, ”he confides in hushed words. Édouard Philippe thinks that it is necessary to show “without getting upset” what the implementation of Mélenchon’s program would mean. “European disobedience would lead to the disintegration of Europe. Sending people to the Assembly who think that the debt should not be repaid would send a very bad signal to those who finance us. Disarming the police and abolishing the anti-crime brigades would be the sure recipe for increasing insecurity, ”he knocks. Finally, the one who campaigned during his youth in the ranks of Rocard, before joining Alain Juppé, warns against the “romanticism of the union of the left found”, version 2022. “This union is not that of a humanist Mitterrand but of a left under the influence of the extreme left”, he asserts. As for the second-round duel between Nupes and RN candidates, he defends the Republican front without hesitation. “I have no problem with the PS, the ecologists or even the PCF. But in “republican front”, there is republican. I have more difficulties with rebels who want to break the police and justice, invite anti-Semitic leaders and do not seem to me to share our republican values. »
With admirers in Haguenau, ninth district of Bas-Rhin, on June 6.
© Alvaro Canovas
“Loyal and free”, according to his formula, he advances, never directly evokes 2027 but intends not to skip any steps. The proud Philippe is clear in his head. In the short term, he will devote his time to his city of Le Havre, to Horizons and to writing for a publication in 2023. “Politics is above all ideas. If your ideological corpus is not shared, there is no point in getting agitated. He is therefore busy building a “solid” party. “We had nothing in the fall. Our friends were shooting at us. Today we have offices [ceux du QG présidentiel de Chirac en 1995], 420 local committees. We are going to have a group at the Assembly and we have just published a review which produces substance [108 pages, 28 contributions robustes dont celles du colonel Goya, de l’intellectuel proche de Chevènement Gaël Brustier, du libéral Gaspard Koenig ou encore de Dominique Reynié]. Me, I build, with my friends. If some prefer to comment or denigrate, that is quite indifferent to me…” Horizons therefore wants to be an idea machine: “Not a washing machine for old LRs… I propose the construction of a collective adventure, with those who wish it . “The structuring of the party (which will meet on July 10) is also a way of showing its determination and providing an answer to its Macronist detractors who consider it too dandy, too weak-willed. Sébastien Lecornu and Bruno Le Maire, his ex-friends from LR, are not the last to criticize him behind the scenes. “I would not be surprised if the president soon understands that it is not necessarily me that he will have to be wary of in terms of loyalty”, predicts the former Prime Minister, never caught, until now, in flagrante delicto of criticism against Emmanuel Macron. While the reverse is not true. The presidential campaign has indeed left its mark. “There was very strong annoyance from the president when Philippe declared that Marine Le Pen could be elected. Emmanuel Macron believes that he owes him everything, ”says this adviser from the Élysée. Basically, the head of state does not see his former “collaborator” succeeding him. “If he really wanted, he would have been a candidate from 2022. With Philippe, it’s always” I’m going to make a misfortune “and, in the end, he negotiates”, ironically a macronist.
He claims his loyalty to the one who appointed him Prime Minister
The former tenant of Matignon in Le Havre, his home port, where he launched his Horizons party.
© Alvaro Canovas
To hear Édouard Philippe is to know him badly. First, he asserts his loyalty to the person who appointed him Prime Minister. Then, he thinks – and affirms in front of us – that we must be “ready to embark on the presidential adventure”. “It’s very hard to become president. And it’s even harder to be! This occurred to me when I was at Matignon. And we saw it during the campaign. Candidates were not ready. Some thought it was a big local election. A presidential election is not a difference of degree. It is a difference in nature. So he gets ready. Without noise. And knows what awaits. He will not make the mistake of living as “number two in the regime”, as his friend Jean-Pierre Raffarin advised him against. There is no risk, moreover, since the president’s friends themselves say that Philippe is not part of the family. As if the graft had never taken. His friend Gilles Boyer calls it “the syndrome of the son-in-law”, that is to say the one who is tolerated at the table because the girl is in love with him. “I want to be me,” replies Édouard Philippe. If he admits having learned “from Alain Juppé, Antoine Rufenacht and Emmanuel Macron”, he is the first to hammer that “there are no heirs in the Republic”. When the time comes, he will express his difference. Like the belief in the right and left divide… which the Macronists thought they had erased.