The crowd of great days thronged, Wednesday, October 12, in the village hall of the Elysée, come to attend the decoration of Jean-Pierre Chevènement, who had refused any medal in the past. Before presenting him with the insignia of Commander of the Legion of Honor, Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the sovereignist, “jet-black eyebrow and serious gaze”having embodied “Spirit of the Republic”. “The Republic has your stubborn rigor, your patriotismhe launched in front of an elderly and masculine areopagus. She has your moral authority, that of a man who never ceased to speak his truth, often premonitory about geopolitical crises, integration crises, industrial challenges and nihilistic temptations. »
Fragile but resolute silhouette, the former minister of François Mitterrand, 83, listened to the speech standing, disdaining the chair that had been installed for him. Just before, he said his friendship to this young president who had voted for him in 2002 and whom he supported in return in the last presidential election. “I really realized your value when you disrupted the system”praised the one who had wanted to gather “Republicans of both shores” in the 2002 presidential election.
“Review the family”
Then, the guests mingled under the glass roof. Among them, former prime ministers – Edith Cresson, François Fillon, Bernard Cazeneuve -, the former socialist minister Hubert Védrine, the ex-CEO of Airbus Louis Gallois, the director Serge Moati, the former Elysian adviser Aquilino Morelle, the high official Didier Leschi, as well as former members of the Socialist Party (PS) and Ceres, the former current of Chevènement. “It makes me happy to see the family again even if they are getting old”, slips Ségolène Royal. The former presidential candidate of 2007 remembers ” like it was yesterday “ that “Che” had been “the first leader of the PS” to support her. She, who called for a vote for Jean-Luc Mélenchon in April, is being grabbed by disgruntled socialists. “Why do you worry about Mélenchon when it’s a mess in the country? »she retorts, referring to the queues at gas stations.
For his part, Arnaud Montebourg is delighted that the question of sovereignty, dear to his « mentor », has found a topicality. He talks to guests of the “Le Pen risk”. “If Macron dissolves, the RN [Rassemblement national ] returns with 200 deputies! What is Emmanuel’s plan B? What orientation does he give to his mandate? », worries the ex-minister, convinced that the“republican axis” of Chevènement, “if it becomes a policy”could help “avoid the worst”.