In the footsteps of the Head of State, confronted with a war at the gates of Europe. Journalist Guy Lagache was able to follow Emmanuel Macron and his diplomatic advisers and thus make the documentary A President, Europe and the War, broadcast Thursday June 30 on France 2 at 9:10 p.m. While his initial project was to tell in a way “pedagogic” the functioning of Europe, on the occasion of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, the invasion of Ukraine plunges the journalist into the heart of a diplomatic crisis and a conflict of an unprecedented scale since World War II. Alone with his camera, he reveals the extreme complexity of the exercise of power.
Franceinfo: How was born your desire to follow Emmanuel Macron at the head of the presidency of the Council of the European Union?
Guy Lagache: What seemed interesting to me as a citizen, and not only as a journalist, was to understand how a Europe works which has always seemed to me complex, technical, distant. There is a real need for education on European issues. I wanted to take a dry subject and make it interesting and accessible to everyone. I knew that from January 1 until June 30, France was going to take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union. I contacted the Elysée last November to tell them about my project.
“I wanted to tell how this French presidency would go about it if it found itself faced with a crisis.”
Guy Lagache, director of “A President, Europe and War”at franceinfo
Because if we look at the last twenty years, we are faced every six months to crises in Europe, such as the crisis between Poland and Belarus or Brexit.
The Elysée found the idea interesting. So I started filming at the beginning of January, filming myself. I am not a cameraman, I have never framed in my life, but it was a way of immersing myself while being as discreet as possible in the life of the advisers to the President of the Republic who are in charge of the subjects diplomatic. And then little by little, the sounds of boots on the Ukrainian border sounded louder and louder. This crisis has imposed itself more and more on the agenda, and as a result it has become the main subject of the film. I’ve always had in mind to tell this war over the long term to try to understand the complexity of politics in the face of reality.
Didn’t the fact that war break out restrict your room for maneuver ?
When you have access in principle, it does not mean that you have access to everything. It’s not “open bar”. With or without the crisis, but obviously more obviously with the crisis, I wanted to show pedagogy and that is what I defended with the teams of the President of the Republic. A relationship of trust had to be created, because this is an extremely sensitive subject. I was not in a logic of news, in a logic of magazine, and it is very important to make it understood. I know the seriousness of the situation I’m filming, we’re in a historic moment which is one of the most serious events we’ve known since 1945. Obviously, they didn’t let me film everything.
“Every day I had to be patient, persuasive, understanding, tenacious as well and then waiting, waiting and waiting.”
Guy Lagache, director of “A President, Europe and War”at franceinfo
It took a long time for the Elysée to understand my axis.
How were you able to film this conversation between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine?
Emmanuel Macron pulls a diplomatic thread. On February 7, he spent nearly six hours with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. And it seemed important to me to explain what was going on in these conversations, because it was difficult to understand. The press wondered a lot about what it meant to have a discussion with Vladimir Putin and the risks that could ensue. And there we see that it is a very robust discussion.
“I wanted to show that Emmanuel Macron’s axis was to do everything to prevent war, he was totally in his role as mediator, and it is on this basis that I was able to film this conversation.”
Guy Lagache, director of “A President, Europe and War”at franceinfo
However, I couldn’t capture everything, there are a lot of things I couldn’t film. But at the same time, it was extremely important for me not to divulge confidential information, classified as a defense secret. It was a matter of responsibility in the face of the gravity of the situation.
What impressed you the most during these six months?
This may seem like a cliché, but what I found very interesting is what it means to be confronted with reality when one is a politician or a diplomat. What fascinated me, once again, was the exercise of power and its complexity. Especially on a European scale. We have twenty-seven countries forming a union with twenty-seven different histories and cultures. These countries have relations with Russia that are not at all the same depending on where they are geographically located. It fascinated me to see how a crisis like this makes it possible to unite with countries with divergent interests, and for which the consequences of this war are not at all the same.
How can everyone be better informed?
Take part in the consultation initiated as part of the European project De facto on the Make.org platform. Franceinfo is the partner