Édouard Philippe is against a “fait accompli immigration”, while the subject agitates the majority and the right. And he advocates the questioning of a 1968 agreement with Algeria. So many positions that trace a path towards 2027.
The controversial immigration file should succeed that of the pension reform: the government is refining its text for July and hopes for a compromise with the right, while Republican deputies have tabled two bills on the subject in quick succession . And now Edouard Philippe throws a stone into the pond with an interview, Monday June 5 in The Express, in which he recommends in particular to review the 1968 agreement which organizes the entry, employment and stay of Algerians in France since the end of the Algerian war. By denouncing, in passing, a “immigration of the fait accompli”.
>> Immigration: we explain the 1968 agreement on the employment of Algerians in France
By proposing to review this agreement, Édouard Philippe assumes a desire to “break” and made a sensational entry into the debate. First, because the former Prime Minister breaks what is taboo outside the arc that goes from Eric Ciotti and Eric Zemmour to Marine Le Pen, who are pleading for the end of this agreement. And then because there is enough to trigger a new diplomatic crisis with Algeria: the positions taken by a former French ambassador at the beginning of the year had already triggered a wind of anger on the other side. of the Mediterranean.
The reasonable Edouard Philippe, self-proclaimed “loyal, but free”, therefore does not care to embarrass the current government. Let us also remember that Emmanuel Macron has worked tirelessly since the beginning of his first five-year term to reconcile memories, heal the wounds of the Algerian war. Its former Prime Minister does not hesitate to reopen them.
Beacons on the way to the presidential election
What is the former Prime Minister of Emmanuel Macron playing at? Everyone knows his presidential ambition: the man places beacons on the way to 2027. This is the first time that he has launched a proposal likely to electrify political debate. His party, Horizons, belongs to the presidential majority, but Gérald Darmanin, the current Minister of the Interior, has already said that he will not touch the 1968 agreement. He publicly argues that his text is wrong far enough. Edouard Philippe proves him wrong in the face of the Republicans who themselves, in their bills, do not go that far.
Edouard Philippe has relays in the National Assembly and a group which aims to bring amendments during the examination of the text. Enough to rock the ship while Renaissance is already worried about seeing its unity dangerously weakened in the context of the discussions, and the left wing is worried that the search for compromise with the right will turn into compromise. “It’s a way of shaking them up, of making them understand that you have to show courage”decrypts a close friend of the mayor of Le Havre for whom the concept of “Red line” is fanciful and must be quickly abandoned by the majority to be able to move forward in the negotiation.
A strategy: that of rare speech
Edouard Philippe therefore advances towards 2027, breaking with Emmanuel Macron, and prints his difference. And he will continue, maintaining a rare speech strategy. During this time, to feed his elements of doctrine, he travels, “see people”explains his entourage. “Never forget where Horizons comes from”recalls one of his friends who defines the party as a “diaspora of local elected representatives”, of mayors, former Giscardians, Chiraquians, Sarkozyists, with an ideological framework “weathered by their field experience”. And regularly, the one who is no longer just mayor of Le Havre sends postcards… We can consider that from now on, he begins to shell program elements: Edouard Philippe completes the writing of a book which must be released at the beginning of the school year and a faithful argues that this will be an opportunity to bring his vision of school and education. He knows that the road is long: he must last four years.