Emmanuel Macron firmly denied on Saturday comments reported about “smicards” who would prefer “VOD subscriptions to healthier food”, which he allegedly made in front of an agricultural union for whom “the president did not speak in these terms, but the substance is the same.
A sentence that would have been uttered during a meeting with Medef
The controversy was sparked by the newspaper The Marseillaisewhich relayed on the front page of its Saturday edition this quote given to the Head of State during a meeting with Modef, a minority union close to the Communist Party, on February 14 at the Elysée: “smicards prefer subscriptions VOD to a healthier diet”.
Questioned during the Agricultural Show on this subject, Emmanuel Macron assured that he had never used “a formula like this”. “The problem we have in our country today is that the share of income that the French allocate to food, in 30 years, has fallen. That is to say that people, they spend more money on housing, on telephone subscriptions, on trips, on television. The way of life has changed”, explained the head of state, castigating in passing “the ethics” of the journalists who relayed these words.
“The president did not express himself in these terms, but the substance is the same”
For her part, Lucie Illy, vice-president of Modef and present at this meeting, told AFP that “the president did not express himself in these terms, but the substance is the same”. This organic arborist in the Hautes-Alpes particularly questioned the president on the “excessive margins that we sometimes see on organic products, and the difficulty for people who receive the minimum wage to obtain organic products.”
“He first told me that there were no excessive margins in organic farming. Then he said that ‘eating well is a lifestyle choice. While we have 70 free channels in France+, we can do without a (TV) subscription to afford organic apples,” she said. Saying she was “a little shocked”, Lucie Illy argued that “when you work and earn the minimum wage, it’s hard to be told to choose between eating well and leisure, it can go a long way”.
Faced with these comments, the first secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure immediately denounced “class contempt to the end on the part of someone who, in his entire life, has never had to make a choice between eating better and have access to culture. The head of deputies RN Marine Le Pen also pointed out a “permanent class contempt” from the president. “Hurtful and provocative communication, Emmanuel Macron, disturbing in his attitudes, worrying in his behavior, incompetent in his function, accentuates the political crisis,” she insisted.