What new direction for Emmanuel Macron? This question comes up in ministerial offices where many advisers admit that they no longer know where they are going. Jean-Rémi Baudot’s political brief.
“Taker of the latest elements of language on pensions, we did not have“… This short message was posted on January 3 on a very closed Telegram loop of executive communicators that franceinfo was able to consult. The author of this message is not really an intern: he is the Emmanuel Macron’s main communications adviser, the very one who should be in charge of these famous “language elements“, these political arguments that you will hear on TV sets.
>> Pension reform: towards a major social conference at the initiative of Elisabeth Borne?
This message, which has been making people laugh for months in ministerial offices, is anecdotal. But for many, it exemplifies the absence of political narrative and leadership at the top of the state. “We’ve been wondering where the message is for a year“, laments a member of the cabinet.
Political messages do not infuse public opinion
Since the re-election of Emmanuel Macron, many collaborators have complained of not having a narrative for their ministers in the media. Hence the mess in shambles. Pensions are a good example: was it a reform “of righteousness“, a reform “financial” Or a reform forsave the pay-as-you-go system” ? These convinced macronists come to doubt: does anyone even know what the project is?
The executive is struggling to sell its reforms and the first to recognize it is Emmanuel Macron. Recently, during a 1 p.m., he confided that his only regret about retirement was not “failed to convince of the need” of reform. And for good reason, public opinion has not been sensitized upstream, the debate has not been raised.
Same pattern for immigration with incomprehensible round trips, on green industries and the request for a regulatory break. Ditto on the bill on the sharing of value which is an unprecedented agreement between social partners. It will be Wednesday May 24 in the Council of Ministers, but the subject is not posed in the opinion.
The cabinets turn in circles, the departures follow one another
“We are in a false flat, as paralyzed”, annoys a communicator. And it’s not just a question of communication: it weighs on political action. The lack of direction, the difficulty of knowing in which political narrative the action fits, that blocks everything. Because, in reality, announcements are ready. In the boxes at Bercy, there is a plan for the independents which does not see the light of day. In Health, there is a Solidarity Pact that has been waiting since last September. No minister dares to leave anything any more, for fear of falling at the wrong time. Or in case Matignon or the Élysée would like to take over the subjects. “We don’t know if our plan will come out in a week or a month“, says a counselor…
The cabinets are therefore going in circles, before a possible change. Consequences: departures are linked. The most capped profiles return to the private sector. Only the ministers who weigh the most allow themselves to play their own part. The others are patiently waiting for a possible reshuffle. The kind of situation that we observe, in general, at the end of the five-year term…