Emmanuel Macron denied Tuesday at the Council of Ministers any dissension with his Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in connection with the coronavirus crisis, and castigated those who "try to divide" the executive, according to concordant government sources.
"The whole executive is fully aligned in this crisis. I will have no indulgence for those who by rumors and rumors try to divide the government and particularly the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic ", said the head of state, according to remarks reported by a participant in the Council of Ministers.
Suppress rumors
Emmanuel Macron returned twice to the subject Tuesday morning before the government, in order to extinguish rumors of tensions within the executive couple, according to several ministerial sources.
According to several press articles (in L'Express and Le Point in particular), the head of state would have called journalists in person on Monday to express his disagreement with the decision of Edouard Philippe to maintain the same day, this Tuesday, the presentation of its deconfinement plan to the Assembly and the vote of the deputies. According to information from Europe 1, the Elysee Palace "categorically" denied these phone calls.
Rumors of a disagreement between Emmanuel Macron and Edouard Philippe appear sporadically since the start of the five-year term, often heightened in times of turbulence such as during the "yellow vests" crisis. But it is rare that they force the head of state to deny them.