In the majority, his name had been on everyone's lips for three days. In a Republic on the move shaken after the announcement by Benjamin Griveaux of the withdrawal of his candidacy after the broadcast of sex videos, many voices were raised to demand a replacement at short notice by the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn. A proposal that ended up accepting the main concerned, yet hesitant, but pushed by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron in person.
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While discussions had been held all day Saturday at LREM headquarters, important executives of the majority supported the Agnès Buzyn option, including the boss of the movement in person Stanislas Guérini, the president of the LREM group at the 'Assembly Gilles Le Gendre, but also the leader of the MoDem François Bayrou. Only, the Minister of Health, very busy with her files, struggled to be convinced.
Agnès Buzyn had rejected any candidacy Friday
Because even if the former doctor specializing in leukemia and bone marrow transplant regularly confided his desire to get into politics, the many files in progress, the start of the examination of the pensions bill, crisis in hospitals, and finally coronavirus epidemic, seemed as many brakes to an improvised application a month from the first round scheduled for March 15. Moreover, Friday, Agnes Buzyn still assured that she "could not" be a candidate because of her "very busy" agenda and the "extra work" caused by the coronavirus crisis.
"You didn't need a testimony application"
After a weekend of reflection, then a meeting with Emmanuel Macron on Sunday afternoon, Agnès Buzyn finally got started. And he now has four weeks left to try to relaunch a campaign that seemed more like a Stations of the Cross every day, Benjamin Griveaux having been overtaken in recent weeks by candidate LR Rachida Dati in the polls, still behind the mayor outgoing Anne Hidalgo. Within the movement, some are counting on it to breathe new life into the campaign. "It was not necessary to apply for a testimony," says Europe 1, a heavyweight from LREM.
While Agnes Buzyn will resign from Sunday evening, and be replaced in the coming hours at the Ministry of Health, she assures AFP to embark on the municipal battle "to win". "I love Paris, I know it, I was born there, I have lived there forever, and I think I have a lot to bring to all those who, like me, live there every day," she writes. .