“doing Elkabbach, as we have long said in the political class, was a sort of consecration”, confides André Vallini, former senator of Isère

“We’ll never know what color the wall was!”tweeted on the evening of Tuesday, October 3, André Vallini, in reference to his legendary interview with Jean-Pierre Elkabbach. “I am very sad, because I loved Jean-Pierre Elkabbach very much. He was a very endearing person, first of all because he was a great worker, a great professional. (…) In addition, he “was a humanist, he read a lot, he was very cultured. (…) It was always a great moment of happiness to talk with him”says the former senator from Isère.

A test as much feared as hoped for

André Vallini then returned to his interview with Jean-Pierre Elkabbach, who, he said, “disconcerted”. How did politicians prepare for interviews with the journalist? “We were notified the day before by his assistance, around 6 p.m. He himself called us around 10 p.m. to prepare for the interview, and we had a difficult night, a short night. We got up very early in the morning to prepare for the interview. interview”, he remembers. One moment “difficult, in the good sense of the word”summarizes the former senator from Isère, before adding: “We were always worried about being invited by Elkabbach, but we were happy to be, at the same time.”

“It was an ordeal that we feared, but that we hoped for at the same time. Because doing Elkabbach, as we said, as we have long said in the political class, it was a kind of recognition, a sort of consecration”concludes André Vallini.