Emmanuel Macron plays the master of ceremonies

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will take place in the open air on the Seine on Friday in Paris. The opportunity for the head of state to show the world the influence of France.

Beyond sport, it is the image that France sends to the world that counts, the image of a creative country, which dares to transform its capital into a stadium, with a unique spectacle on the Seine and the arrival of international stars. A welcoming country, which brings together more than 150 heads of state and thousands of tourists. An attractive country where the biggest bosses continue to invest. A united country, where social fractures have disappeared, at least for the duration of a ceremony, after the threats of strikes were lifted with the distribution of bonuses.

After these weeks of political instability, political tensions, nervousness, the Head of State is counting on these Games to bring back a smile to the French people, a feeling of national cohesion… In short, he wants to make these games an enchanted interlude. That’s for the postcard but the reality is more complex because his political adversaries do not see it that way. Declaring in a Jupiterian way an Olympic and political truce is much too simple in their eyes, especially when we are still waiting for the appointment of a Prime Minister.

The left bloc keeps repeating that Emmanuel Macron must appoint Lucie Castets to Matignon, without the divisions between Les Insoumis and the Socialists being appeased. As proof, Hélène Geoffroy of the PS asked for clarification on Thursday, considering that the strategy of the New Popular Front does not embody the left of government.

The right, that of Laurent Wauquiez, seeks to make itself indispensable in a coalition that the head of state calls for. We hear less from the National Rally, but it is already working on some key texts, such as the repeal of the pension reform that it intends to propose during its first parliamentary slot at the end of October, arguing in passing over the subject with the New Popular Front which this week tabled a bill to reduce retirement to 62 years.

In fact, everyone is sharpening their weapons. Of course, the deputies will be officially on vacation from August 2, but everyone is actually preparing for their return. While remaining Prime Minister of Current Affairs, Gabriel Attal for the presidential camp is developing an action pact with a view to building a shared legislative platform. The question remains with whom? On the left, François Ruffin, who now sits with Les Écologistes, is calling his voters in Flixecourt in the Somme, at his home, on Saturday August 31, even if it means going solo. The same day, in the Alpes Maritimes, it was Éric Ciotti who allied himself with the RN, which wants to make its political return by asking the last LR members to vote, in order to cut the party line between his own and that of Laurent Wauquiez.

In short, the excitement of the Games cannot obscure a political return that promises to be much more agitated than the president would like, especially if a social front were to be added to it.