Paris (AFP)

Released from Matignon and popular in the polls, Edouard Philippe rejects any ambition other than to remain an essential link between the majority and the moderate right, as on Friday in Angers where he will share with friends mayors his experience of the coronavirus crisis .

More than 80 days after his departure from Matignon, Edouard Philippe continues to surf in opinion polls on the wave of sympathy that has swelled with the management of the epidemic, prancing at the top of the rankings of personalities and other barometers of confidence, acclaimed on the right and praised on the left.

What to do with such capital?

After two months on low air, during which he fell back on his town hall in Le Havre and took a few vacations, Mr. Philippe resurfaced to support his relatives engaged in the senatorial elections, like Minister Sébastien Lecornu this Wednesday in the Eure.

He is especially expected on Friday morning in Angers, at the invitation of the mayor Christophe Béchu (ex-LR) and the association he founded "La République des maires", the culmination of a morning of workshops devoted to the management of the coronavirus crisis.

"We welcome one of our own, a local elected representative, a mayor who believes in the roots", boasts Mr. Béchu who relishes the spotlight by referring to these "dozens" of requests from his constituents, who have failed despite their desire to listen the former head of government.

"It took on another dimension," he observes.

The place of Mr. Philippe in the Macronian system remains to be clarified, however.

When he left Matignon, the entourage of Mr. Macron had let it be known that Mr. Philippe had agreed to "help the president" to "consolidate the majority".

A vague mission, never detailed on one side or the other.

"I did not have any clarification or explanation on what the president would expect from Edouard," said MEP Gilles Boyer, a friend of Mr. Philippe.

But "Edouard Philippe, it is an asset for the majority" that he "contributed for three years to widen" by bringing closer to the voters "who wished the success of the president, were disconcerted by the Republicans but did not want to join to La République en Marche, ”he adds.

The former Prime Minister would therefore continue this task.

In Angers, he will thus address an audience of moderate right-wing mayors, some who have left LR, and who support the government's action.

- Hyphen -

Despite their claimed proximity to the majority, some of them were scalded at having had to face LREM candidates for municipal elections.

"This is where we see that the lines are not yet stable", analyzes Mr. Boyer, noting that for these elected officials, Mr. Philippe, ex-LR and heir to Alain Juppé, therefore acts as a trait union with the majority.

An important bridge, at a time when Mr. Macron wishes to build a "common house" for the presidential election of 2022. Could this stature, however, lead Mr. Philippe to more formally structure his small political enterprise, strong of its network of local elected representatives?

Members of "The Republic of Mayors" will meet moreover Friday afternoon for "a more statutory time", "to ask questions about the future", slips Mr. Béchu.

However, "Edouard, he has two characteristics: he is very free and his loyalty is obvious. And Emmanuel Macron knows it perfectly", assures MP Thierry Solère.

Another friend abounds: "The great strength of Edouard is that nothing he shows is different from what he is. He is loyal, period. All the debates: + and if ... + , these are debates that do not have to be, ”he annoys.

"He left Matignon with many desires", underlines the same close.

"He has juice, energy, he is young, he has, I believe, the feeling of accomplishment. For him, the range of possibilities is vast," he says.

Mr. Philippe, 49, should soon become an independent director of the IT group Atos and begins writing a book, "a mixture of story and essay on what it can represent to lead a country like France in 2020" according to its co-author Gilles Boyer.

© 2020 AFP