From one meeting to another. The feathered hats of the majority have (finally) formalized the creation of their “Common House” this Monday evening, at La Mutualité. Even where on July 12, 2016, Emmanuel Macron had given (without saying so) the kickoff of his campaign, under the nose and beard of François Hollande. Richard Ferrand, François Bayrou, Edouard Philippe, Barbara Pompili, Stanislas Guerini, the ban and the backbench of the government, of the majority… “Tonight, it was the rainbow tribe”, giggles a guest in seeing them parade, in an allusion to the twelve children of Josephine Baker who will be pantheonized this Tuesday. In fact, they were all there except one: the future candidate, never far away.
“There are no questions to ask, you have to go,” urged the president this weekend, in a small committee. A relative translates: “There is a highway to take, it is that of Macron. The president of the MoDem, François Bayrou, never stingy with a compliment to the Head of State, does not say anything else, when he judges at the podium than the launch of Together Citizens! constitutes “a decisive step to support together the candidacy for the re-election of Emmanuel Macron”. Like Richard Ferrand, close among those close to the Head of State: “I hear some people talk about this five-year term as an unfinished revolution. It is so true that we want to continue. Clamor of activists who are not mistaken: “And one, and two, and five more years!” “Or even:” Macron, president! »
“We are here, gathered! »
A campaign launch, which did not say its name? “It’s not a swing in the campaign, there is no need to swing it. The moment of the campaign, it took place Saturday morning, Sunday morning, on the markets”, advances the president of the LREM group to the Assembly, Christophe Castaner, accrediting de facto “the will”, whispered behind the scenes, “to trivialize the formal act of declaration of candidacy” of the Head of State. This evening, continues Castaner at the foot of the stage, “it is a symbolic moment of gathering, a marker”. A way to occupy the field, while waiting for Macron and while his opponents, the candidates for the LR nomination, the far-right polemicist Éric Zemmour, are in the spotlight this week.
An evening, conceived as a demonstration of force and unity, a message chanted, hammered by the lieutenants of the president, determined to put the differences (very real) under a bushel. He had only to see them arrive grouped. It was laborious… It took two years of negotiations, particularly intense and tight in recent weeks, to get there. “I saw doubt creeping into certain looks,” recalls Stanislas Guerini from the podium, to better underline: “We are here, united! »
This did not prevent the heated debates, behind the scenes, on the lack of parity in the governing bodies of Macronie – four women for seven men, this Monday evening at the podium, and none brought to co-chair Together citizens!. Standing ovation for Barbara Pompili when she talks about parity. A controversy in everyone’s mind, which forced Richard Ferrand to remind the Walkers that “never” so many women had entered the National Assembly than in 2017.
This Monday evening, there were also small allusions on stage Like that of Bayrou on what separates him from Philippe: “Between the Pyrenees and Normandy, dear Édouard, there are different climates”, launches the Béarnais, estimating that “everyone will progress at their own pace”. To the former Prime Minister, notoriously reluctant to the idea of this co-location with the other parties of the majority, Guerini also launches: “We missed you! “A close friend of the president echoes in the room:” We had to organize an act of reconciliation of the political forces of the majority. There was a puzzle game falling into place…”
“We needed at least a non-aggression pact”
In the manner of a tightrope walker, the mayor of Le Havre also delivered a stand-up style show, as during the launch of his Horizons party in Le Havre, pulling out of the game with the room. While recalling his desire to join a common movement, to reassure those who suspect him of wanting to play it more solo. “Yes, overtaking is the key,” he boasts. “It’s the desire to build a common project together and I’m proud to be part of it,” he adds as a sign of loyalty. Richard Ferrand politely reminds him a few minutes later when concluding the evening: “Together citizens! is first and foremost a rallying cry, a wish for unity and solidarity that goes beyond the electoral cycle”.
Everyone knows that the worst is yet to come. “Afterwards, it will be the haggling. It will be : how many circumferences is it? summarizes a framework, with in mind the moment when it will be a question of distributing the investitures in the legislative elections. “We needed at least a non-aggression pact, sums up an LREM deputy on arriving in the room. We’ll see if it holds…”