Arthur de Laborde / Photo credits: Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP
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7:48 a.m., November 16, 2023
On a state visit to Switzerland this Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron has not forgotten French news. The president, at the center of criticism for not having gone to the march against anti-Semitism, responds and judges that his presence could have been misinterpreted. He also took the opportunity to attack certain members of the opposition.
Emmanuel Macron took advantage of his state visit to Switzerland on Wednesday to react at a press conference to criticism linked to his absence from last Sunday’s march against anti-Semitism. The President of the Republic took the opportunity to attack his opponents who declined his invitation to the new “Saint-Denis meetings” which will be held on Friday.
“My role is to continue to preserve the unity of the country during this period”
Because the head of state does not hide his annoyance around criticism of his absence from the march against anti-Semitism organized last Sunday. “The place of a President of the Republic is not to go to a march,” he emphasizes to journalists, and assures that his presence during Sunday’s rally would have been misinterpreted.
“My role is to continue to preserve, during this period, the unity of the country and to never send each other back to back,” judges Emmanuel Macron. But that is not what some members of the opposition think, like Eric Ciotti who will ultimately not go to the new meeting in Saint-Denis on Friday, as a sign of protest at the absence by Emmanuel Macron.
Only three out of six opponents will make the trip
“Using the context we are experiencing to justify an absence from a working meeting on constitutional reforms is absolutely unworthy of a political leader,” said the head of state. Emmanuel Macron also criticizes the boycott of the socialist Olivier Faure, believing “that it is a major political mistake. They will explain why they are not there when the President of the Republic had seen fit to involve them on subjects essential to life of the nation”.
Barring another twist, Emmanuel Macron will therefore find himself on Friday in Saint-Denis facing the ecologist Marine Tondelier, the communist Fabien Roussel and the boss of the RN, Jordan Bardella, that is to say only three opponents, instead of six.