Every morning, Nicolas Beytout analyzes political news and gives us his opinion.
This Thursday, he returns to Emmanuel Macron's speech this Wednesday evening.
According to him, beyond the new restrictions or closures, the president has made a commitment and made an appointment with the French.
Nicolas Beytout had warned this Wednesday morning, if Emmanuel Macron spoke, it would be to announce bad news.
Bingo, it is.
France must again shut itself up for four weeks, schools closed next Tuesday.
And even if the head of state still seems to have such a hard time using the word "containment" to describe what lies ahead, that's what it is.
Containment of the third type, between the ultra-severe of last March-April and the more flexible of last fall.
A form of at the same time.
We will have the audience figures in an hour, but was Emmanuel Macron's intervention good?
On the form, yes: no emphasis, no lyrical soaring, concrete (almost too much by the way: it's always strange to see the Chairman commenting on slides, curves and tables, like the CEO of the Health).
And on the bottom, Emmanuel Macron has adopted a fairly balanced position between bad news (the confinement of all of France), and words of comfort in the face of weariness, the annoyance of many.
And above all, he drew a horizon, he gave a deadline for ending the crisis.
Four weeks, then another two of transition before gradual reopening.
Yes, and this is the first time that this has happened.
During his previous interventions, Emmanuel Macron either did not commit, or had underlined the provisional of his announcements.
This time, he gives precise dates.
Steps in the rise of vaccination, and at the same time in the relaxation of the constraint.
And this is not trivial.
Since the pressure for a reconfinement had invaded the public debate, we had seen a battle unfold on the theme: "the lost bet of the President who did not want to reconfine and who was going to be obliged to do so".
It is true, this choice not to follow the advice of the doctors, for two months, did not succeed.
And it is also true that the entourage of the Head of State had embroidered a lot around the idea of a President who sees everything, understands everything, and decides everything about health policy.
His plan to speed up the virus failed, it was the virus that won and so it was he personally who lost.
And so giving a horizon, would that be a way of making people forget this lost race?
Exactly.
Emmanuel Macron sets a new appointment for the French, draws a perspective of a real, dated exit, based on the rise of the vaccination campaign.
One way, of course, to change the terms of the bet, and to spare some political air.