General de Villiers: media or political phenomenon?
Audio 02:22
Pierre de Villiers, in 2017. REUTERS / Stephane Mahe / File Photo
5 mins
Less than a year and a half before the presidential election, General Pierre de Villiers is making the headlines in France and for good reason: the former Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces is releasing his third book after two bestsellers.
His mantra: restore order.
Which would make him according to some a possible candidate for 2022. Who is this general who has become so political?
Publicity
Pierre de Villiers, 64, is a man whose reputation precedes him.
Chief of Staff of the Armies, he is the one through whom Emmanuel Macron experienced his very first crisis as president.
In July 2017, Emmanuel Macron just arrived at the Élysée, with an absolute majority in parliament.
A period of grace for the new head of state, broken when General de Villiers resigns from his functions: in question, a disagreement with the president on the budget of the army.
Evil for good, since after this episode, Pierre de Villiers becomes the favorite soldier of the French.
His first two books,
Serving
and
What is a chef
, sold 160,000 and 105,000 copies.
Through the “yellow vests” on the roundabouts, his name is sometimes brandished like that of a chef.
Result: the man begins to be tested by pollsters.
According to an IFOP poll, 20% of French people say they are “
ready
” to vote for him in 2022.
A plausible application
?
Pierre de Villiers denies it each time the question is asked.
At
Le Parisien,
he argues that he "
does not make these books with a view to any political mandate
".
At the same time however, the general multiplies the interviews, on the management of the health crisis, separatism, secularism, security or article 24. With a
leit motiv
: "in the
face of chaos, the French are demanding authority
”.
We are far from the political program and yet, on the side of the National Rally in particular, we are starting to attack.
What if the general came to thwart the candid candidacy of Marine Le Pen?
"
Politically it is overpriced
", coward without flinching the MEP RN Philippe Olivier.
"On the analysis of agreement, but on the solutions it is hollow" abounds the number 2 of the party, Jordan Bardella, who goes so far as to mock "
if people voted 20% for him, it is that they must have confused him with his brother, Philippe
”.
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Presidential France 2022