A year to the day after his re-election, Emmanuel Macron is trying to remobilize his troops. Monday evening, while in some cities of France demonstrators were playing the “casserolades” card, the President of the Republic wrote to his activists to call on them not to “deserte the field” and to “travel the country”, in an email sent to nearly 200,000 members and supporters of the presidential Renaissance party.
“Nothing would be worse than deserting the field and thus remaining deaf to the sometimes very legitimate expectations, proposals and criticisms of our compatriots”, declared the Head of State in this message that Le Point was able to consult. Emmanuel Macron therefore invites his supporters to “travel the country, proud” of what he has “become over the past six years”.
This call from the president to set out to conquer the country was expected by activists. “It was important that he do it after the period we’ve had in recent weeks,” said Guillain Gilliot, Youth Coordinator with Macron in Paris. “On the ground, it was not necessarily easy to defend a reform that was both complicated and that did not win strong support,” he admits.
Even within the Macronist ranks, the pension reform has raised some doubts. “When we are in a sequence like this, we inevitably have internal exchanges and debates”, confides Tristan Bréhier, president of Renaissance in Finistère. Some activists disagreed with the method by which the reform was passed. “Not everyone was necessarily comfortable with 49.3,” reports Ophély Massat, president of Renaissance in Ariège, a department in which the presidential party has around 50 members. “This complicated period of violence , the political decisions that may have been taken, the use of 49.3… Inevitably, at some point, activists wonder if it was the right decision that was made, ”sums up Guillain Gilliot. “Isn’t there something that was missed?” he wonders.
However, the president’s supporters are determined to move forward. Nicolas Bertrand, head of the presidential party in Loiret, observes in his department a “real desire to go into the field to convince”. “We will go back to the markets even more, organize round tables and create local leaflets”, he announces.
In Finistère, “we are preparing”, says Tristan Bréhier. “I’ve been thinking with my team for a few days about going back to the field. “He mentions in particular the date of May 9, Europe Day – a theme dear to the macronists – to “go and meet the citizens”. Activists also want to highlight Emmanuel Macron’s record.
On the Young side with Macron, “we did not wait for the president’s letter, we have been in the field for two or three weeks”, underlines Ambroise Méjean, president of the movement and member of the executive board of Renaissance. A leaflet on stock exchange reform, which defends the government’s announcements on the subject, has already been distributed.
The launch of this campaign, scheduled for May 7, owes nothing to chance. It was on this date that Emmanuel Macron was elected for the first time in 2017. It was also on this date that he was invested after his re-election in 2022. A way for the presidential party to “mark the continuity of his action”.
