at a meeting in Paris, the presidential camp calls for “general mobilization” to support Valérie Hayer

The majority met on Tuesday evening, at the Mutualité, for a meeting in support of the head of the Renaissance list, significantly behind in the polls by the National Rally.

“We will be in second place anyway, like last time so what? We follow our president, the base is solid”, responds tit for tat Agathe, member of the presidential party since 2019. Like many Renaissance activists, this political communications professional recorded the surge in the polls of Jordan Bardella, the National Rally candidate for the European elections, far in front of Valérie Hayer. The Renaissance candidate, who belatedly revealed his list and its program, is credited with 17% of voting intentions, compared to 32% for the head of the National Rally list, in the latest Ipsos barometer.

To try to revive itself, the head of the presidential party list gave its first meeting in Paris on Tuesday, May 7, at the Mutualité, surrounded by the entire Macronist staff, the government and the Prime Minister. “Here we are, ready and gathered for the final sprint of this campaign. So, alongside you, I want to launch the call for general mobilization!”launched Valérie Hayer. “I have the firm conviction that today we are launching the turning point in this campaign. This is the moment when the French are starting to take an interest in what is happening”also insisted Gabriel Attal, saying to himself “proud” of the Renaissance candidate, appointed late. The head of government did not fail to refer to the date chosen for the meeting, seven years to the day after Emmanuel Macron’s accession to the Elysée, in a room popular with the macronie.

A dramatized European election

“We do not have the spirit of defeat”, A close friend of the president slipped a few minutes before the start of the meeting. “Everything is possible. We now have a program. So we are going to campaign on it rather than only targeting our political opponents. We are getting into the hard part“, he added. On the platform, several pundits of the majority first paraded, all in ineligible positions on the Hayer list: two former Prime Ministers – Edouard Philippe and Elisabeth Borne – Stéphane Séjourné, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and secretary general of Renaissance, as well as François Bayrou, the boss of MoDem. All contributed to dramatizing the issue of the June 9 election. “This election will be in the history books because it turned out that the world changed face”assured the mayor of Pau. “Our democracy is in danger, that is perhaps the issue of this election”also affirmed Stéphane Séjourné, calling for the mobilization of his camp to win.

A major challenge. “The mobilization of the Macronist base is weakreported for franceinfo Mathieu Gallard, director of studies for the Ipsos institute. Emmanuel Macron’s voters in the first round of the 2022 presidential election are among those who least intend to travel.” Not enough to discourage the activists who crossed paths with the Mutualité. “I have hope, the Macronist electorate is waking upwants to believe Laure, MoDem activist, aged 68. We must not waste time fighting against the RN, we must instead say why vote for us.”

If Gabriel Attal also insisted on the major importance of this election, by evoking the results and the program of the majority, the tenant of Matignon spent time attacking the extreme right. Much applauded by the activists, the one who was internally suspected of not wetting his shirt enough thus castigated “the hidden project” of the National Rally. Gabriel Attal described members of Marine Le Pen’s camp as “anonymous europhobes” after having been “acknowledged Europhobes”. “To all those you know who have doubts, who are wondering, ask them just one question: what would be the consequences of a brown wave sweeping over the European Parliament on June 9?”further warned the head of government.

“We are not talking about Glucksmann”

Valérie Hayer, her voice less confident than that of the Prime Minister, has also made the RN the target of her attacks. Wishing “debunking the lies and deceptions of the far right”the head of the Macronist list, for example, addressed Colombe, this RN sympathizer, whose video at Jordan Bardella’s meeting in Perpignan caused the entire political class to react. “Here I want to address all the Colombes of our country: with them in power, we see it elsewhere in Europe, not a price that falls, not a salary that increases, not a factory that reopens. This is for you Colombe, for all those resigned, that I want to fight”, she assured.

The duel that the majority wants to establish will be played against the National Rally, not elsewhere. Because, if the president of the Renew group in the European Parliament also has to face the dynamics of the PS-Place publique candidate Raphaël Glucksmann, the third man in this campaign, the socialist candidate will not have been named. “We are not talking about Glucksmann but about the Nupes list”confides a strategist from the presidential camp. “Jean-Luc Mélenchon said it, the socialist candidate barely dares to say it, but both consider this election as the Nupes primary for 2027”denounced Gabriel Attal.

Galvanized by the clamor in the room, the Prime Minister ordered the activists to multiply on the ground. “Lets fight”he repeated many times. “We have one month left”echoed Valérie Hayer.