Municipal: Emmanuel Macron, now what?

Text by: Valérie Gas Follow

The head of state said he would not learn national lessons from the municipal elections. After the green wave that has swept away several major cities and the confirmed failure of the Republic in March, how will Emmanuel Macron manage the next stage and the announced reshuffle?

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The day after the municipal elections does not look like the day before: ecology has become since Sunday evening, a theme that cannot be ignored in the political debate. Emmanuel Macron had felt it coming by announcing that he was going to meet the members of the citizens' convention the day after the election to bring, according to the Élysée, "strong responses to the ecological expectations of the French". French people who have changed the political paradigm in many cities, foremost among them Lyon, and have placed ecology in power in municipal executives.

Willingly, unwillingly the President of the Republic will have to integrate this parameter into his new political equation, his "new way". A path for which he must define the orientations during a new expression whose terms and date have not yet been communicated. The only indication will be before July 14, said Emmanuel Macron during his address on June 14. And to implement this policy, the Head of State is considering a reshuffle. Turning the page on failed municipal elections for the Republic and the President of the Republic means taking the initiative as quickly as possible.

When will the reshuffle begin?

The shooting window is narrow and has been open since Sunday evening. And one of the priority questions for the president is to decide if Édouard Philippe will accompany him in this new stage of his mandate, the one that will lead him until 2022. The Prime Minister was re-elected hands down in Le Havre, his popularity rating has been increasing since deconfinement, politically it is therefore strengthened. But can he stay at Matignon, he the right-hand man, if to "reinvent" the Head of State decides to give a more social and ecological boost to his policy at the risk of letting go a little on budgetary imperatives? The presidential choices on the continuation of the pension reform will be an important element in this equation.

In the entourage of Emmanuel Macron, we also insist a lot on the will of the president to go back to the front line, to put his hands in the grease, in other words to monopolize the political space and to entrust to the head of government the mission of "managing the majority". Emmanuel Macron is convinced that it is to him, and to him alone, that the French will demand accountability, as much therefore assume everything and bear everything in the two years to come. More than a big bang, it would then be a return to basics for an Emmanuel Macron who has always taken the risk of exposing himself.

►Listen to our special editions of Monday June 29:

(Special edition) After the 2020 municipal elections (Part 1)

(Special Edition) In the aftermath of the 2020 Municipal elections (Part 2)

►Find all our articles on municipal elections here.

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• 2020 municipal elections
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