for what reasons does Emmanuel Macron decide in favor of not moving the second-hand booksellers?

Six months before the Paris Olympic Games, the Head of State has given up on moving the emblematic green boxes from the second-hand booksellers on the banks of the Seine.

After months of standoff between second-hand booksellers and the police headquarters, the Élysée decided on Tuesday, February 13, that none of these small open-air bookstores will be “moved for the opening ceremony”, lack of consensus. The Head of State requests that “the security system is adapted accordingly”. A source nevertheless tells us that the last gauge of 220,000 participants on the upper quays still holds.

However, Parisian elected officials are surprised that the head of state seems to denounce his police chief, who is pushing him to dismantle half of the boxes for security reasons. Emmanuel Macron has certainly defended second-hand booksellers from the start, vying for recognition as a UNESCO world heritage site. He even went to meet them during a staged impromptu walk on the quays, but that did not prevent the prefecture from moving forward with its protocol. So at a time when the ambition of the ceremony is reduced, the president may, according to one of these elected officials, want to avoid alienating the entire corporation, which is very powerful in the capital.

A strategic decision with a view to municipal elections

According to some, the 2026 elections would explain why the president is taking up a subject that is ultimately quite local and cultural. This is reminiscent of the municipal candidacy of its Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, who made the fate of second-hand booksellers a hobby horse when she was at the head of the opposition. Before tweeting, the minister rejoiced almost instantly in the loop of private messages from the Parisian right. “It will be part of his record at the ministry”thinks one of his relatives.

The Head of State is therefore advancing his pawns, this is in any case the thesis of an advisor to the executive. This, according to him, is evidenced by this latest wave of reshuffle with delegated ministers, who can become future Macronist candidates for municipal elections. “Sabrina Agresti-Roubache in Marseille, Patrice Vergriete in Dunkirk, Sarah El-Haïry in Nantes and Rachida Dati in Paris”here is a beautiful network of local elected officials that Emmanuel Macron will really need to be able to push for a possible heir the following year, in 2027.