Emmanuel Macron goes to Montcornet in the Aisne on Sunday to celebrate a defeat, but a defeat with panache during the Battle of France, that of a certain Colonel de Gaulle. The opportunity for the head of state to make his first speech outside Covid for several months.

Summon de Gaulle to place yourself above the fray. This is the exercise that Emmanuel Macron will engage in Sunday at Montcornet in the Aisne. Admittedly, it will commemorate a military defeat, but it will especially celebrate a moral victory, that of France which does not surrender, embodied in this month of May 1940 by Colonel de Gaulle, future leader of Free France.

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Asserting the strength of national unity

A ceremony is scheduled at 11 am, it will be accompanied by a speech in resonance with the period we live in, even if the Elysée insures that "we should not expect an act of political refoundation". Nevertheless, while Emmanuel Macron calls for a form of national unity in this period of health crisis triggered by the coronavirus, this commemoration is no coincidence. One of his relatives assumes it: "The themes of going beyond parties, unity, rallying inspired Emmanuel Macron".

These eminently Gaullian themes have so far not really found an echo in the political class of 2020.