It was last week. In other words, there is an eternity. Emmanuel Macron invites, on October 26, the team of the film “Simply Black” for a private screening in the cinema room located under the village hall of the Elysée. Emmanuel Macron smiles watching the adventures of “JP”, a failed actor who wants to organize a march against the absence of blacks in the media… This comedy on racism will be his last opportunity to laugh out loud and invite VIPs!
In the hours that followed, a screed of lead fell over the country. Confinement, attacks, diplomatic tensions, economic and social fire… It is a wave of major crises. At 42, Emmanuel Macron is under enormous pressure: “I have to face it”, he repeats to himself like a mantra. To his ministers, he launches: “We will get there, we will hold on. »Between optimism and Coué method.
His supporters underline his “coolness”. “I have never seen a president face so many events of this gravity,” comments the president of the LREM group in the Senate François Patriat. Fortunately we have it! As for his detractors, they denounce the amateurism of an executive which has not been able to prepare the country for the second wave, nor to orchestrate the reconfinement.
“This man is steeped in paradoxes”
At the Palace, defense councils multiply, in an atmosphere of an entrenched camp. The head of state’s bodyguards are on edge. “Has a president ever received so many threats? », Asks one of his relatives. His tweets on freedom of expression have triggered death threats “by the thousands”, deplores those around him. His effigy is burned by protesters in the Middle East. In a statement, Al-Qaeda attacks the head of state by name.
PODCAST. Emmanuel Macron and the coronavirus crisis: inside the president’s head (episode 1)
“He does not let himself be overwhelmed by emotions, keeps his analytical skills, orchestrates the action, does not complain”, describes the Minister Delegate Marlène Schiappa. One of his colleagues continues: “He could cry, decompensate, it is not the case! “This man is steeped in paradoxes,” recalls an intimate. He’s cerebral but can’t help but make short sentences. He is warm but unaffected. At times, however, he is not far from being overwhelmed by his emotions. “At the Sorbonne, in front of the family and the coffin of Samuel Paty, Macron made his speech in apnea so as not to cry”, slips a witness. A speech, which he wrote for the most part personally.
All the concerns of the country go back to him. His phone keeps ringing. Bosses of the CAC 40, artists and opinion leaders are asking him to obtain exemptions in their sectors, when the reconfinement is announced. At first, he shows himself open. He is ready to leave hairdressing salons and bookstores open. Before changing your mind about the health situation.
A speech recorded twice
On Wednesday October 28, Emmanuel Macron recorded his solemn address to the French. He must do it twice to pronounce the general placing under the bell. In the first version, he urges the French to turn to “culture” during this ordeal. But he must shorten his speech, which he finds too long. It crosses out the reference to culture. Ironically, artists, publishers, writers will consider themselves forgotten …
PODCAST. Emmanuel Macron and the coronavirus crisis: inside the president’s head (episode 2)
The next day, at 9.15 a.m., Emmanuel Macron was on the phone with a minister on the implementation of the re-containment when the Nice drama occurred. He leaves the Elysee Palace, walks to the Interministerial Crisis Unit (CIC), Place Beauvau. In front of the cameras, he makes sure to appear calm.
In the basement of the Ministry of the Interior, in front of members of the government and high-ranking officers, he draws his response: “When I leave the CIC, I will go to Nice to pass a message of unity to Catholics and French, he explains. I ask you to continue the measures of hindrance, home visits and dissolutions of associations ”. He adds: “We still have a few days to strengthen our legal arsenal, think about it”. Clearly, he asks participants to strengthen the text on the fight against separatism, which will be presented on December 9 in the Council of Ministers.
“We will not give up”
Events collide. His agenda is going crazy. Late Friday afternoon, Al Jazeera journalists come to the palace to record an interview with the head of state, after the outbreak of anti-French violence. But Emmanuel Macron must keep them waiting, because he is still on the phone with … Pope Francis. On the menu of the exchange: the follow-up to the drama of the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption basilica in Nice.
In this five-year term hit by disasters, we must be on all fronts. At the same time. Be ready to go out at any time to handle the latest disaster. As on this Tuesday, November 3 in the morning, where Emmanuel Macron goes to the Austrian embassy to show his solidarity after the attack that struck Vienna. On the guestbook, he writes these words: “We will not give up anything. ” An entire program.
Original article by : www.leparisien.fr
