Without going so far as to explicitly declare himself a candidate, Édouard Philippe indicated on Wednesday September 13 that he had “a fairly clear idea of ??how things could happen” concerning him in the 2027 presidential election. Omnipresent in the media at the occasion of the release of his latest book, he also clarified his thoughts, particularly on the themes of school and Islam.
The presidential election is still far away, but he thinks about it and doesn’t hide it. “I don’t know what the 2027 presidential election will be like,” but “I have a pretty clear idea, yes, of how, when it comes to me, things could go,” said Édouard Philippe on France Inter.
Two interviews in the middle of a cleverly orchestrated political comeback, around the publication of his book Des Lieus Qui Dict (JC Lattès), in bookstores on Wednesday. Autobiographical story which outlines the “directions” that the mayor of Le Havre wishes to give to the country, because “the life of a nation must be organized around where we want to go”.
Starting with school, an intimate subject for this son of teachers who knows that “it’s a tiring job”. To stop the “collapse” of the education system, he wants to “put the emphasis on small classes” and “assume that the goal of school is also excellence”.
Castigating the former socialist minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who according to him “favored the private sector”, he intends to reconnect with “republican elitism” which “pulls everyone to the highest”. And regrets that the issue is “always approached from small angles” such as teachers’ salaries or uniforms. Even secularism, because “it would be ridiculous if we thought that the problem with school was the abaya”.
Islam, on the other hand, concerns him. Because this religion is “more and more practiced in France” and that, “like everywhere in the world”, it is partly “worked by obscurantist aspirations, which advocate a literal reading of the sacred text (and) a practice totally rigorous.”
Message of firmness from a right-wing man who is “not afraid to express (his) positions, including when they are not popular”. As for retirement at 67, “because the reality, at some point, is there” and he “fears that it will unfortunately be necessary one day to return to the question”.
As on immigration, also, to better give satisfaction to Gérald Darmanin, whose controversial bill “is a very good starting point” before “an intense debate” in Parliament, he said, praising “ the balance of the text” between “simplification”, “strengthening” and “integration”. A point of view necessarily more nuanced than that of the Republicans, who reject the regularization of undocumented workers, contained in the draft government text.
The former Prime Minister, who will speak to his supporters in Angers on Friday, “takes full responsibility”: “I have close ties with the President of the Republic,” he admits, “I am not going to apologize for it ”, but “I’m not totally identical to him.” On arrival, “we’ll see what the French say, in any case I’m not going to change who I am.”
