Jacques Serais / Photo credit: MAGALI COHEN / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
The question of the successive blockades of Sciences Po Paris by pro-Palestinian students was not raised this Friday in the Council of Ministers. Nevertheless, the government ensures that it is monitoring the situation closely and is juggling between firmness on the one hand, and the concern not to alienate the students, on the other.
These are words that contrast with the agitation in front of Sciences Po Paris this Friday. Pro-Palestinian students once again organized a blockade of the establishment on rue Saint-Guillaume, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, before being evacuated by the police. However, the question was not raised during the Council of Ministers, moved this Friday due to May 1.
“The point was not addressed in the agenda of the Council of Ministers. But you are well aware that the subject is obviously being followed,” Prisca Thevenot told journalists. Not a word, however, from the President of the Republic on these repeated blockages, but the government spokesperson assures that the situation is under control. “We must remember something simple, and which was recalled by Gabriel Attal himself: firmness”.
“No time to upset left-wing voters”
Prisca Thevenot also insists on the fact that universities must remain places of debate. “Our French universities are places of excellence, places of knowledge, debate, dialogue. When, indeed, a conflict begins, the first issue is to resolve it through dialogue.”
The executive therefore juggles between the concern to be firm on the one hand and that of not alienating the students, on the other. “This is not the time to upset voters on the left,” deciphers a ministerial advisor. In the polls for the European elections, the socialist candidate Raphaël Glucksmann is not that far from the Macronist Valérie Hayer.