Of the twelve presidential candidates, he will be the only one to leave his chair empty. Emmanuel Macron will not participate in the program “Elysée 2022”, Tuesday April 5, on France 2, unlike Eric Zemmour, Valérie Pécresse, Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot and Philippe Poutou, also expected on the set of Laurent Guimier and Léa Salame. Officially, it’s a matter of ” choice “. “We did not do BFM-TV or CNews. We didn’t do [Cyril] Chanuna or [la youtubeuse Magali] Bloody »justifies the entourage of the president-candidate, denying being at war with France 2, contrary to what is whispered in the corridors of the public channel.
The “Elysée 2022” team had let him choose the time that suited him best, between March 31 and April 5, the two pre-first round broadcasts, which were to receive all the candidates in two stages. . The channel thought for a while of having one of its representatives come in place of the President of the Republic, before giving up, noting that the program focuses on the candidates themselves, and that none wanted to go after a mere spokesperson. Finally, France 2, bound to respect the speaking times, will retransmit after the broadcast extracts from the speech delivered by Emmanuel Macron during his meeting at La Défense, Saturday April 2.
His campaign team did not provide any explanation to France 2 to justify this refusal. “They started by saying that they did not know if he would come, then that it was complicated for questions of the agenda, reports a journalist. But the agenda does not prevent Emmanuel Macron from going twice to TF1. » The Head of State took part in “Facing War”on March 14, on the front page, and will respond to Gilles Bouleau, on April 6, in the newspaper of ” 20 hours “. The society of journalists of France 2 was moved by this ostracism of which it feels victim. “Mr. Macron, why are you refusing the invitations from France 2? »she questioned in an open letter, released on Monday April 4, recalling that the President of the Republic had not “participated in any of the many political meetings” chain.
Interview with an overly offensive tone
The Elysée tenant has long had complicated relationships with France 2. His 8 p.m. newspaper, in particular, is in the sights of the Macronists, because it is considered too critical and declining. “When I watch it, I get depressed. Some people don’t like to be hit on those who do”, underlined, in recent months, a close friend of the Head of State. The name of the presenter of the newspaper, Anne-Sophie Lapix, sometimes comes up in conversations to explain these tensions. In particular because of the too offensive tone of an interview carried out in duplex with Edouard Philippe, then Prime Minister, during the first days of confinement, in March 2020. Asked by the channel about the possibility of being interviewed by the journalist, in December 2021, for a program devoted to his balance sheet, Emmanuel Macron evacuated the hypothesis of a « no comment ».
The President of the Republic, who refused to go to the premises of public television for this interview, preferred to answer questions from TF1, whose teams traveled to the Elysée for a river program called “Where is France going? ». The chain of the Bouygues group is qualified as the most “neutral” by supporters of Emmanuel Macron.