Macron’s remarks on the “democratic legitimacy” of the “crowd” provoke politicians on all sides to react

The expression does not seem to pass. Tuesday evening, the President of the Republic estimated, in front of the parliamentarians of the majority received at the Élysée, that “the crowd” of demonstrators opposed to the pension reform had “no legitimacy“face”to the people who express themselves through their elected representatives“. Severely denounced by the left, Emmanuel Macron has also drawn criticism from the right, and from some of his partners.

“Today, it’s not the crowd that opposes Emmanuel Macron, it’s the whole country“, reacted the deputy Insoumis François Ruffin, invited Wednesday morning on LCI, on the eve of a new day of demonstrations. According to him, it is rather the law passed by the executive that has “no legitimacy” It front of “united unions that say no» and to «million people on the street“. The elected representative of the Somme goes even further, and recognizes in the election of Emmanuel Macron a “legality“, but not “legitimacy“. “In what political situation was Emmanuel Macron elected?“, he questioned. Before answering himself:Without momentum and without enthusiasm.»

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“(Emmanuel Macron) delegitimized the representatives of the people by disqualifying the parliamentary debate“, also retorted the leader of the Socialist deputies, Boris Vallaud. Evoking “the institutional crisis into which it plunged us“, the elected Landes summoned on Public Senate the president of”wondering about the political coup he has accomplished“, and denounced his”brave side“. Same story on the side of the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau, for whom Emmanuel Macron is looking for “decay or incident“. “I think (the protest) even goes beyond the question of pensions“, she advanced on BFMTV / RMC.

Bayrou would “not have said things like that”

Even some of the president’s partners distanced themselves from the comments made. On France Info, the president of the MoDem François Bayrou indicated that he would not have “don’t say things like that“. “Each has its legitimacy. Demonstrations have their legitimacy, but it is not superior to democratic legitimacy“, he judged. Adding that the Constitutionsays that sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it through their representatives.»

The High Commissioner for Planning then drew a parallel with the violent demonstrations by supporters of Donald Trump in the United States in January 2021.When they attacked the Capitol, it was a mob, but it didn’t have the legitimacy of the institutions“, noted the mayor of Pau. The street remains important, he nuanced: it is “the symptom of the incommunicability in which we find ourselves, between the official powers and the grassroots citizensfor three or four decades.

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The president of the Les Républicains deputies, Olivier Marleix, also expressed concern, “in a moment of obvious tension“where Emmanuel Macron himself”doesn’t have many exit doors“. “I think that the role of the President of the Republic is to try to appease in these moments and not to give the feeling of throwing oil on the fire“, he estimated on France Inter. Before judgingurgent that he rectifies the situation, that he changes his vocabulary“during his interview organized at 1 p.m. with TF1 and France 2.

Among the few to have done so, former Prime Minister Manuel Valls gave “raisonto the Head of State. On France 2, he felt that we were “nurturing something very dangerous for democracy“, and that it was therefore necessary to “recall the democratic legitimacy“. The ex-tenant of Matignon nevertheless issued a warning: “Beware also of the rupture, the break, with people who have demonstrated thanks to the unions who have been particularly responsible and who can sometimes feel called into question.»