Emmanuel Macron is looking for the “rare fish”. France has been without a Prime Minister for seven weeks, seven weeks of hesitation and proposals that collapse under the threat of a motion of censure. In a deeply divided National Assembly, the choice is difficult: how to appoint a Prime Minister who escapes censure, without being too left-wing for Macron, nor too right-wing for the French? A candidate who does not want to reverse the pension reform, who is neither a Macronist, nor close to the President, nor a technocrat… The list of criteria seems endless, plunging the Head of State into a real political headache. It is in this climate that François Hollande, invited on the set of Daily This Wednesday, September 4, spoke about the current political crisis.
Recently received by Emmanuel Macron alongside Nicolas Sarkozy, apparently to offer advice, the former president came away disconcerted by this meeting. Jean-Michel Aphatie then questions François Hollande on Emmanuel Macron’s attitude during this interview, wondering if he was not a little “lost” or “hesitant”: “Because you saw him. It’s a privilege to meet him now.” Hollande, a bit ironically, responds: “I don’t know if it’s a privilege.” But the journalist insists: “It’s a privilege. You see, I would like to see it and I can’t.” The former president then clarified his remarks: “It would have been a privilege if he had known in which direction he wanted to go. But in reality, he mentioned many names but chose none. What mattered was not what he was going to tell me, […] but what I was going to tell him!”
Emmanuel Macron at an impasse: he refuses alternation
François Hollande then explained live on TMC that he advised Emmanuel Macron to take a risk by appointing someone, even if it had to be accompanied by a political program different from his own. However, what he understood is that the President did not want “nor give up his power” nor abandon the political line he has pursued until now. “He doesn’t want to cohabit,” specifies Julie Gayet’s companion, adding that what Emmanuel Macron seems not to have yet accepted is that the French voted for an alternation… To be continued.
Article written in collaboration with 6Médias.
Photo credits: TMC screenshot