EDITORIAL. Has Gérald Darmanin made himself indispensable to Emmanuel Macron?

Has Gérald Darmanin made himself indispensable to Emmanuel Macron? Undoubtedly yes. For better or for worse, as in any marriage. Gérald Darmanin is a bit like the minister of controversy. The function has a lot to do with it. A transparent tenant of Place Beauvau, who does not make waves, quickly passes for a weakling in the eyes of public opinion.

>> Pension reform: the contenders for the post of Prime Minister are already preparing

And then Gérald Darmanin loves shocking little phrases, provocative formulas. One day he castigates “eco-terrorism” anti-basin demonstrators in Sainte-Soline, another, he denounces the “bordélisation” of Parliament and of the country by the Insoumis. Inevitably, in a government in which two-thirds of the members are strangers who weigh nothing politically, he quickly knew how to take the light.

The gates of Matignon

But it is both an asset and a liability. An asset because when the State seems to be falling apart, what is left? The republican order, and that is Gérald Darmanin. The more he imposes himself in the red rag of the left, the more he makes himself essential in his camp, to speak to the electorate on the right and in particular to retirees. But it has also become a drag on the original project of macronism.

Remember, it was to appease, to unite, to go beyond the right-left divide, in short, the opposite of what the Minister of the Interior embodies today. The proof with the immigration bill: a text that had to be balanced, carried by the Darmanin-Dussopt tandem, the Minister of Labor from the left. Except that Olivier Dussopt sank with the pension reform and the text on immigration first cut out, is promised for burial.

Gérald Darmanin is of course playing a personal card. Many in the majority repeat that he already sees himself at Matignon. For those, the clue is that he pleaded to the end against the use of article 49-3 because he thought that the pension reform would be rejected by a majority of deputies. And that he would also succeed Elisabeth Borne. Well, the Prime Minister clings. But maybe not for very long…