"" Rubirola is here ", but we don't know if she will be there tomorrow"

The mayor of Marseille Michèle Rubirola -

• An article from

  Le Monde

  published this Wednesday is fueling rumors about a possible resignation of the mayor of Marseille before the end of his mandate

• After a month of convalescence and absence, Michèle Rubirola, who has already confided during the campaign her reluctance to be a candidate, avoids the question for her media return.

• Its political opponents are calling for a clear position. 

On the fourth floor of a building in La Canebière, in the discreet premises of the Marseille Resource Center, around twenty people surround Michèle Rubirola.

A few notes in hand, without protocol, without a platform, the mayor of France's second largest city speaks as a doctor, talks about the cancer that strikes couples, of her attachment to public health issues.

This media release as part of Operation Pink October is the first of the EELV council for a month.

The mayor had disappeared from the radar since mid-September, leaving her place, both figuratively and literally during the city council, to her first deputy, the socialist Benoît Payan.

The same one who had decided not to be head of the Marseille Spring list in front of the reluctance of Jean-Luc Mélenchon vis-à-vis his candidacy.

And now, barely elected, Michèle Rubirola, the consensus candidate within the Marseille Spring who had no ambition to be mayor, takes several weeks away from Marseille political life, the time to recover after a major surgical operation, until Wednesday.

Swirl at the town hall

"We will take questions only on Pink October," warns the press officer of the town hall to the many journalists present.

Everyone or almost here has read the article which makes the front page of the

.

An article that reveals the mayor's doubts about her desire to exercise her mandate to the end, and her questions about her ability to exercise this function.

"You are aware that I only stay three months", would have entrusted the city council to a potential candidate for the post of chief of staff, according to our colleagues.

An article that has toured social networks ... and the corridors of the town hall.

“Several people came to challenge me on this article, recognizes a deputy mayor on condition of anonymity.

I didn't have time to read it, but I will, because obviously, it is creating a stir… "

" Carpe Diem "

The end of the visit has sounded in the premises of the Marseille Resource Center.

The small group of journalists surrounds the city councilor.

"How are you, Madam Mayor?"

”Michèle Rubirola evades and wants to be reassuring.

The press officer insists: "We are here to talk about Pink October".

A few minutes later, a colleague tries: “Madam Mayor, you are back today.

Can we count on you for the next six years?

"

Michèle Rubirola tries a pirouette on the tone of humor.

"Listen, unless I die tomorrow… I say 'here and now'.

Carpe Diem.

If tomorrow I get run over I won't be here.

If I didn't get run over, I would still be here.

"

"We don't know if she will be there tomorrow"

"If she answers" Carpe Diem ", it is not very reassuring, breathes Stéphane Ravier, president RN of the city council.

She should rather answer that she was elected for a six-year term and that she will assume this responsibility entrusted to her by the Marseillais, instead of subjecting them to a possible resignation.

Marseille needs someone who sets a course, and we rather have someone who sails on sight.

Michèle Rubirola's slogan was “Rubirola is here”, but we don't know if she will be there tomorrow… ”

"It should not be that all this is political grub orchestrated for a long time, worries Catherine Pila, leader of the LR group in the municipal council If she chooses to no longer be mayor, it would be betraying her voters.

"But this situation is not surprising," says Stéphane Ravier.

We know very well that she had no plans to be mayor.

"

“Some [of the Marseille Spring] were there to be at the top of the list, indeed confided Michèle Rubirola to

in an interview published during the in-between rounds.

Me no.

I was there to participate.

Being a health assistant, I was more part of it.

"

Marseilles

Marseille: The mayor, Michèle Rubirola, back from convalescence this week

Health

Coronavirus in Marseille: Michèle Rubirola believes that "repression only works for a moment"

• Marseilles

• Mayor

• Michele Rubirola

• Resignation