"I intend to become mayor once I am no longer Prime Minister". Edouard Philippe launched his campaign for the second round of municipal elections in Le Havre on Tuesday, and he wants to be clear about his intentions. In a video posted on social networks and in an interview with the daily Paris Normandy , the Prime Minister, who leaves favorite against the communist Jean-Paul Lecoq, explains that if he wins, he will become mayor again, but only after his passage to Matignon. Even if, he recalls, it is not he who will decide the calendar.
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Because only one person, in the end, masters clocks: Emmanuel Macron. "If he thinks, after the municipal election, that I must continue my mission in Matignon, I will assume my responsibilities", assures the Prime Minister. Before adding: "If he thinks someone else is more useful, I will respect his choice in all loyalty".
"Always want" to be Prime Minister
In short, if he wins, Edouard Philippe will be back in Le Havre "at the latest in May 2022, (…) but may be much earlier". In the majority in any case, some want a change of Prime Minister to start the last phase of the quinquennium, while others do not see why it should be exfiltrated, he who comes out strengthened from the coronavirus crisis in opinion and who "always wants", according to a relative.
"Edouard Philippe can very well embody the ecological, social and solidarity revival" wanted by Emmanuel Macron, says a minister. His future is therefore more than ever in the hands of the President. Edouard Philippe says it: "he knows who I am, what I embody, what I can do and what I cannot do".