There is no mea culpa, and even a desire to pass the ball back into the other parties’ court. It prevents. Three days after the legislative warning shot, Emmanuel Macron does not come out of a magic recipe. He is considering several solutions (a coalition or agreements on a case-by-case basis), gives a new appointment for the next few days. This is probably the first time he hasn’t done “judo” with a crisis, trying to get out of it from above.
That of the “yellow vests” had inspired the great debate; the Covid the “whatever the cost” and the vaccination pass, which has become a symbol of authority; the war in Ukraine had enabled him to play to the full his status as President of the European Union. These rebounds were somehow part of the legend. The president who was reborn from crises.
Faced with a new type of political crisis arising from the legislative elections, he is in the opposite situation. His answer is not certain, he gropes, asks for time, almost humble if the word had not been damaged in the elements of language.
By consulting the political parties, he entered for two days in the very type of approach that he had been fleeing for five years: the parade of postures, the ritual of declarations on the steps, the negotiations. Emmanuel Macron, who has promised so much to change, is forced to do so by the vote of the French. Impossible to show a phoenix when you are asked to put it down and share the power.
Afterthoughts
Because this crisis is not of the same nature as the others, it is neither external (Covid), nor caused by its policy (carbon tax, pensions), it is turned against him, against his way of doing things, testify those who were on the ground. “The non-campaign awakened the image of arrogance that had taken hold in 2017-2018. Anti-Macronism is more personal than political”, testifies a minister. “If more left-wing voters voted RN than in the past and vice versa, it was to teach the president a lesson,” said another.
Do differently, work with others, urged the French by their vote. “We will have to build compromises in the open,” he echoes. The ulterior motives are not absent, of course: Emmanuel Macron lays the groundwork for a speech likely to refer to the oppositions the responsibility for future blockages. He also tries to include this new method in the filiation of the “at the same time” that he had installed. As if he was already the one who had killed Jupiter and not the French who were forcing him to do so. Bravado.
