A sentence illustrates the level of tension between the former Prime Minister and the one who appointed him in May 2017. It is dropped by Édouard Philippe, in the newspaper Opinion this morning. “I don’t ask for anything, but I don’t want to be bothered”, he said. Reference to the sentence of the Head of State on the non-vaccinated.
Édouard Philippe does not specify it, but it is directly addressed to the president and his entourage. Because he is convinced that Emmanuel Macron is putting a spoke in his wheels and that he is trying to sabotage him to prevent him from growing his party, Horizons.
In this month of January, Horizons should have absorbed another formation of the majority, Agir, chaired by Minister Franck Riester. “The merger was organized, finished, established, obvious”, explains one of those who piloted the operation. The two parties had come to an agreement on each other’s role in the new structure. And a joint interview with Édouard Philippe and Franck Riester was planned in a newspaper which appears on Sundays, to formalize the union.
Except that last week, to everyone’s surprise, Franck Riester announced to his troops that the wedding will not take place. The reason ? The Elysée opposes it. Édouard Philippe falls from above… This marriage would have allowed the president of Horizons to have more substantial financial means, those of Agir, which thanks to its deputies benefits from public funding, unlike the party newly created by the mayor from Le Havre.
Above all, Édouard Philippe has the feeling of having been had. “He had done things in order, reminds a friend. To say that he supported the president before creating his party”. The mayor of Le Havre had also agreed to join the common house, this banner which brings together all the parties supporting Emmanuel Macron. “During the constitutive meetings of this common house, continues a relative, he had asked if two parties could merge. We told him yes.” “And when he wants to apply this rule, he is finally told no”, chokes a deputy.
The entourage of Edouard Philippe, furious, evokes a “wrong way” of Macronia. Hence the phrase in Opinion. First consequence: the former Prime Minister suspends his participation in majority meetings. He will not go to the lunch organized this Tuesday with En Marche, the Modem and the others. Then he announced this weekend the launch of 130 local committees. 100 more should arrive before the end of the month.
Finally, Édouard Philippe allows himself more than ever to use his freedom. What his friends do not deprive themselves of when talking about Emmanuel Macron’s upcoming campaign. “The outgoing is in a particular configuration and may not be in the second round”, loose for example an elected official. “Edouard’s word will be decisive”, warns another.