Boycott of Saint-Denis meetings: Emmanuel Macron settles his scores

2023-11-15 23:20:56

Until now, he had remained silent. But, this Wednesday, November 15, Emmanuel Macron finally came out of his reserve. From Berne (Switzerland) where he was on a state visit, the President of the Republic responded without taking gloves off to the party leaders who have just stood him up for the second edition of the Saint-Denis meetings, scheduled for this Friday .

“I think this is a major political mistake on the part of these leaders,” said the head of state. And continued: “The absence from a working meeting on constitutional reforms is absolutely disgraceful. » A formal attack addressed to Manuel Bompard, the national coordinator of LFI, Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the PS and to Éric Ciotti, the boss of the Republicans, all three of whom responded negatively to the invitation to Emmanuel Macron.

“My role is not to take a walk”

“No pretext justifies it and especially not using the current geopolitical context,” said the Head of State, referring to the conflict in the Middle East. A phrase tailor-made to target Éric Ciotti. The latter in fact justified his decision to boycott the meeting of the Head of State by highlighting “the absence of the President of the Republic on Sunday at the demonstration against anti-Semitism”.

On the set of BFM this Wednesday, the right-wing leader joked about the “annoyance” of the tenant of the Élysée: “I am not intended to be an extra in the advertising spot for the President of the Republic”, a- he replied, while reiterating his criticisms of the non-presence of Emmanuel Macron at Sunday’s march.

A reproach – which he is not the only one to address to the president – ​​to which Emmanuel Macron also sought to respond from Switzerland. He considered that the “debate” around his absence from the march against anti-Semitism “did not need to be”. “My role is not to take a walk. My role is to work to help free our hostages, he continued. My role is to continue to preserve the unity of the country during this period and to never send each other back to back,” he insisted.