“This is not a political meeting”, assures Emmanuel Macron’s entourage before his speech on Europe at the Sorbonne

While the campaign for the European elections is in full swing, this speech is supposed to present France’s position with a view to the next strategic agenda of the European Union, defined at the end of June, after the elections.

Emmanuel Macron returns to La Sorbonne. The Head of State will deliver a major speech on Europe on Thursday April 25 at 11 a.m. Seven years after the first, in exactly the same amphitheater of the famous Parisian university. A speech supposed, this time, to present France’s position with a view to the next strategic agenda of the European Union, defined at the end of June after the elections.

Obviously, the context makes this speech a campaign speech and yet, the Elysée assures us that it is not: “This is not a political rally, this is a president’s speech.” Where Emmanuel Macron had in 2017 “an intuition”, welcomes those around him: daring to talk about sovereignty, Europe of defense, common borrowing and debt… “An ideological victory”, whispers a minister, very useful for confronting crises: the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Leader “on the right side of history” proclaims the Elysée, which forgets in passing the president’s indictment against a Europe that he judged at the time “too weak, too slow, too inefficient”. Today, there is no question of serving the cause of its candidate, Valérie Hayer, 16 points behind the National Rally, according to the latest Ipsos poll for franceinfo. The oppositions believe that this speech should be counted in Renaissance’s speaking times and campaign accounts. The Élysée responds that the guests were handpicked, that this broad “assembly“is not militant and in fact, this “Sorbonne II” is not either.

“Cause a start”

Emmanuel Macon is expected as the messiah by the Macronists. Turn the tide, “only the president can do it”, admits a minister. “We need him,” laments a campaign executive. The head of state’s speech was expected to be the trigger for remobilizing activists in the grip of disaster. “People don’t want our leaflets, we don’t feel an overflowing energy”, a little hand laments. “When he enters the game, he turns things around,” reassures a friend of the president, aware that this is the last national election before 2027.

Emmanuel Macron runs the risk of being politically weakened in the event of a big defeat. “He is a victim of the erosion of power, we must provoke a surge in our electorate”, blurted out a minister. He, like others, even suggests putting the president’s face on campaign leaflets, in the home stretch, to have him debate with Marine Le Pen and to see him participate in a meeting… Last time, Emmanuel Macron had not done it.