Every morning, Nicolas Beytout analyzes the political news and gives us his opinion.
This Monday, he is interested in Emmanuel Macron's decision to strengthen health measures rather than move to a third confinement immediately.
A risk-taking which nevertheless goes against the recommendations of a large majority of the scientific community.
"I have confidence in us. The hours we are living are crucial," is the message that Emmanuel Macron sent to the French on Saturday.
To tell us that if we wanted to avoid a third confinement, we had to do "everything to curb the epidemic together".
It is clear, the Head of State gives the French control over some of the upcoming events in the fight against Covid.
Obviously, this is a big bet on his part, not so much because we would be unruly (the submission of all during the first containment proves this quite well), but because the variants of the virus are for the moment uncontrollable.
Re-containment therefore remains perfectly possible.
Moreover, the scientific community in its overwhelming majority demands it.
It's true, but what they haven't really integrated, all these doctors and scientists, is that the elements of the decision are not the same as they were a year ago.
At the time, Emmanuel Macron had to arbitrate between two data: the health risk of an epidemic and the economic and social risk of a closure of the country.
His choice was summed up in one expression: the sanitary "whatever the cost".
Except that there is today a new component, a new data to integrate in the decision: the psychological data, the state of the morale of the country.
This has deteriorated, and the acceptability of a third confinement has significantly declined.
Hence this decision of the President of the Republic to reject a confinement that everything, on the contrary, suggested.
And that all his ministers had moreover almost announced!
Ministers, majority deputies, yes, the subject was ripe.
This means that the Head of State had endorsed this communication intended to prepare public opinion.
And so he changed his mind.
There you have it, this case has highlighted three characteristics of the Head of State's management style.
First, the fact that he makes his decision as late as possible (at the risk of causing hiccups, as we have already seen).
Then that he takes it alone: the way in which Jean Castex sent the announcements of reinforcement of the curfew, Friday evening, says enough that he was not delighted with this decision, he who constantly repeats that the sanitary is his number one priority. No, it's really a decision of the President, taken in a structure, the Defense Council, entirely in his hands.
It was he, and he alone, who took the risk of going against the scientists, and possibly being denied by the facts.
This is Emmanuel Macron's third character trait: maximum risk taking.
A return to political roots and perhaps a new balance of power in the management of the rest of the epidemic.