Emmanuel Macron goes to Jarnac to honor the memory of François Mitterrand, who died on January 8, 1996. An exercise in homage that he appreciates, according to political journalist Catherine Nay.

"He tries to capture all the legacies that can bring big benefits", she explains at the microphone of Europe 1. 

ANALYSIS

After tributes to Charles de Gaulle, Jacques Chirac or even Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Emmanuel Macron went to Jarnac in Charente to honor the memory of François Mitterrand, who died 25 years ago on January 8, 1996. The head of the The State will meditate on his grave before going to the birthplace of the socialist president, which has now become a museum.

A nod to a left electorate?

"He tries to capture all the legacies that can bring big benefits", analyzes Catherine Nay, political journalist, collaborator of Europe 1 and author of the book

Le Noir et le Rouge, histoire d'une ambition

, on François Mitterrand.

"First of all, it's an exercise he loves to do: this actor's number, to put yourself in the other's shoes, to take your intonations if necessary".

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 Homage of Macron to Mitterrand: Jarnac, the city-museum of the former president

A "Harlequin suit"

"There was first the year of De Gaulle. As soon as he arrived at the Elysée, there were the general's memoirs, prominently on his desk, then the tribute to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, more discreet. , but sincere. And then now, Mitterrand ", lists Catherine Nay.

"To please all these panels of voters, when you are 'at the same time', you have to wear a Harlequin suit."

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The legacy of François Mitterrand, both political and human, has left many traces in the history of France.

"Mitterrand is the abolition of the death penalty, retirement at age 60. Although this was a mishap reform, at a time when the French had a life expectancy of three additional months per year", explains Catherine Nay.

"The pyramid of the Louvre, the Opera Bastille and Mazarine and her mother in front of the coffin".

"A secret that would no longer be possible to keep today," adds the political analysis.

"At the time, there was no people press, there were no social networks: François Mitterrand was a happy man."

"A character from a novel"

"He is the one who brought the left to power, after 23 years, by going to great lengths, by going from village to village," she recalls.

From François Mitterrand, president from 1981 to 1995, Catherine Nay retains a "character from a novel, with its shadows and its lights".

"A man who never sacrificed his pleasures to ambition, who had plural lives. And then, above all, who had this natural authority. And when he left, we listened to him, we were afraid of him, we feared him. "

According to her, since on the left, no one of her stature has emerged.

"The mold is broken," she analyzes.