Definitely, his schedule as president continues to prevent him, for the time being, from declaring himself a candidate for re-election, explained in substance Friday to “Ouest-France” the head of state, who talks Saturday noon with Vladimir Putin as Washington talks about the imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops.
“We still have an epidemic peak for a few more days, an eminently risky international situation” due to the risk of war in Ukraine brandished by Washington, he underlined.
Another area of concern for the Head of State, the arrival in Paris on Saturday of several thousand protesters in what they called the “freedom convoys”, in order to protest against the vaccination pass and the increase in price – despite the ban by the police headquarters.
A sign of concern within the executive, Emmanuel Macron called for “the greatest calm” on Friday, while saying “hear” the anger that is expressed. Several convoys were intercepted by the security forces deployed in large numbers on Saturday morning, while others were able to enter the capital.
He “starts his campaign with armored vehicles”, pinged the candidate of the National Rally Marine Le Pen from a market in Toulon. “It actually looks like his mandate, a mandate of chaos, disorder and conflict, a mandate to divide the French,” she added.
His competitor on the far right Eric Zemmour met foresters on the Côte d’Or on Saturday to defend the timber industry before a public meeting scheduled for Saulieu.
On the left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s lieutenant Adrien Quatennens estimated, in “La Dépêche”, that the executive had made “a diagnostic error to believe that the yellow vests had come home”. For the deputy from the North, “most of the participants (in the convoys) are not against the vaccine but against the freedom-killing measures and for the increase in purchasing power”.
Bayrou, Pécresse, Hidalgo…
Even in the majority, Modem MP for Loiret Richard Ramos warned on BFMTV: “You always have to be careful when people have things to say. As with the yellow vests, we will have a multitude of people with a multitude of things to say.
More offensive, the boss of the Modem François Bayrou estimated on “France Inter” “that it is about a secession movement of a part of the country, which does not understand, does not find itself and has a desire to revolt”.
At LR, Geoffroy Didier, the head of communications for Les Républicains candidate Valérie Pécresse, clearly criticized these “freedom convoys which should not be called that because their objective is to block Paris”.
“Those who are angry must exercise their right to vote,” he asked instead, as the presidential campaign struggles to interest the French, according to polls. Its champion Valérie Pécresse will also try to relaunch her campaign on Sunday afternoon during her first major meeting at the Zenith in Paris where several thousand people are expected.
The objective will be to close a difficult sequence in a week where several former Sarkozyists, including the chairman of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly Eric Woerth and the mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart, have given their support to Emmanuel Macron.
At the same time, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, at the head of a left scattered in five main candidacies, will try to gather 6,000 supporters in Montpellier. He will meet there from this Saturday employees of Carrefour, strong of the “employment plan” published in the afternoon, which recommends the creation of a million public jobs and the increase in wages to boost demand.
From Saturday, in addition to Eric Zemmour in Saulieu, the former Keeper of the Seals Christiane Taubira is in Créteil, the animalist Hélène Thouy in Orléans. And the candidate of Lutte Ouvrière Nathalie Arthaud, expected at the Mutualité de Paris, was “delighted” with the “freedom convoys” and will plead for “social protest to return to companies”.