Emmanuel Macron denounced Wednesday, November 15 in Berne “the major political mistake” of the party leaders of the Republicans (LR) and the Socialist Party (PS) who declined his invitation to the new “Saint-Denis meetings” on November 17.
“I think this is a major political mistake on the part of these leaders (…). The absence from a working meeting on constitutional reforms is absolutely unworthy” of them, declared the French president during a press conference on the first day of his state visit to Switzerland. “No pretext justifies it and especially not using the current geopolitical context,” said the Head of State, referring to the conflict in the Middle East.
To justify his defection, only three days before, the leader of LR, Eric Ciotti, cited the absence of Emmanuel Macron at the march against anti-Semitism on Sunday November 12.
A demonstration which “should embody par excellence the unity of the nation around our fundamental values”, wrote the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes. However, “by your words and your attitude”, “you have weakened this unity”, he accused. In his eyes, the upcoming meeting around the Head of State in Seine-Saint-Denis is “only an additional sequence of communication”, of which he refuses to be the “alibi”.
Meetings retain their “meaning” according to Olivier Véran
Emmanuel Macron estimated on Wednesday that the “debate” around his absence from the march against anti-Semitism “had no reason to exist”, his “role” being in particular to “continue to preserve in this period the unity of the country “.
Sunday’s march, “I share the expectations. But my role is not to take a walk. My role is to work to help free our hostages,” defended the Swiss head of state. “And my role is to continue to preserve in this period, the unity of the country and to never send each other back to back,” he insisted.
“It’s a shame” and “we regret that they decided to exclude themselves from these discussions,” Olivier Véran, the government spokesperson, reacted earlier on Wednesday, maintaining however that the event retained “all [its] ] sense” despite the announced absences. Several opposition leaders will still be present, on the left (Communist Party, Europe Ecologie-Les Verts) and on the far right (National Rally). The centrists of the Union of Democrats and Independents, as well as the members of the majority (Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons, Radical Party), will complete the round table, with the presidents of the three chambers (Assembly, Senate, Economic and Social Council and environmental).