Jacques Serais, edited by Wassila Belhacine
modified to
11:24 a.m., February 22, 2022
Less than six weeks before the presidential election, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron has still not officially announced his candidacy. This does not prevent LREM deputies and ministers from paving the way towards a renewal of the five-year term of the Head of State.
On the way to a new mandate? Nothing is certain yet. The head of state has still not applied for the race for the Élysée. This does not prevent his staff from acting as if the declaration was imminent. Political appointments follow one another at a steady pace. The executive office met on Monday evening at party headquarters. An evening in a Parisian bar-restaurant is planned for Tuesday evening for LREM deputies. Wednesday evening, all the parliamentarians of the presidential majority will be received at Matignon.
In the spans of the National Assembly, the walking deputies praise the results of the five-year term of the President of the Republic: “in five years, the purchasing power of the French has progressed twice as fast as under the two previous five-year terms”, details the deputy LREM Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade at the microphone of Europe 1. The figures and the slogans fuse in the mouth of the teams of the president of the Republic. All that’s missing is the candidate, laughs Secretary of State Olivia Grégoire: “We are waiting for him, we are wondering. But what is certain is that if he turns out to be a candidate, we will be ready ” she says.
“Nothing worse than thinking the match is won”
In the meantime, Christophe Castaner is targeting his opponents: “I find the opposition rather surprising to explain to us that if their campaign does not take hold, it is Emmanuel Macron’s fault. We must be interested in how we do so- same campaign on themes that are very outdated”, explains the president of the group La République En Marche at the National Assembly.
During a meeting at the Macronie campaign headquarters, facing 200 majority executives, Prime Minister Jean Castex calls for general mobilization. “We must remain serious and humble” he insists. Just before his predecessor at Matignon, Édouard Philippe, spins the sporting metaphor: “those who do boxing know it, nothing is worse than thinking that the match is won”, warns the mayor of Le Havre. A way to set the record straight before the master of the clocks officially enters the race for his re-election.