In Poissy, the start of Emmanuel Macron's campaign on familiar ground

• Three days after his declaration of candidacy, Emmanuel Macron made his first field trip on Monday in Poissy.

• He had an appointment on familiar ground, in the format of the "great national debate" after the crisis of "yellow vests".

  A format in which he is very comfortable.

• The candidate president affirms that he does not shirk the campaign, but imposes his conditions on the debate.

In Poissy (Yvelines)

" Slowly.

Want to change the atmosphere, the altitude,” sang Bibie in 1985. Words that fit perfectly with the start of Emmanuel Macron's presidential campaign.

A slow and gradual descent from the high presidential spheres.

And in particular at this first meeting given Monday evening in Poissy, in the Yvelines.

This "conversation" with handpicked residents completed the soft landing of the outgoing president in the countryside.

Thursday evening, Emmanuel Macron finally declared himself a candidate in a way that could not be more classic and without risk, in a "Letter to the French" published in the regional press.

“I am a candidate to continue to prepare the future of our children and our grandchildren.

Who is against?

On Friday evening, Macron's campaign team released the first episode of a weekly video "series",

.

A very polished exercise, and, there too, without risk for the outgoing person in the face of the very prepared questions of the director.

"Isn't that a bit bent?"

» « Not at all, so think again!

“replies Macron.

Monday morning, he received at his campaign headquarters some of the mayors or elected officials who sponsored him and support him for a second term, before giving his first interview as a candidate to LCI.

A well-known setting

And in the evening, therefore, the candidate president was therefore expected at the end of the RER A. On the program: a "conversation with the inhabitants", at the end of the afternoon, in a large multipurpose room in Poissy, in front of 200 or 300 inhabitants and inhabitants selected by the mayor, Karl Olive, elected various right but displayed support of the president for several years.

Outside, it's a bit like in front of a stadium: guests and journalists will have to wait a long time to have their vaccination passes and invitations checked.

And then, campaign of an outgoing president obliges, nobody will escape security pat-downs and even, for journalists, inspection by a canine squad.

Inside, it's more like a theatre.

The decor, first of all, resembles that of the "great national debate" launched by the Head of State in response to the crisis of "yellow vests".

At the time, Emmanuel Macron had traveled the country to participate in several meetings with mayors, local elected officials, or other categories of the population.

Each time, the president was in the center of the room, the public around him, and sometimes held the microphone for hours and hours to answer questions.

The president-candidate also referred to it last night: after an hour and a half, abandoning the posture of humility that he has displayed since his declaration of candidacy, he expressed his frustration at the approach of the end of the meeting, he who is "physiologically accustomed to the seven-hour debates".

pretext questions

Two hours earlier, the room fills up.

It swarms until everyone is asked to sit down, then the hubbub becomes a whisper.

Emmanuel Macron, will be waiting a little while longer.

And then it's the standing ovation: two good minutes of standing applause when the candidate arrives, which suggests that the rest of the evening will not be too difficult for him.

Karl Olive, loyal gentleman, tries to make us understand that the main character in the play is the public: "Here, you have France, who will ask you questions", describes the mayor who speaks of a " exercise without filter”.

What we can doubt.

Because of course, it is Emmanuel Macron, the main character.

The ten questions to which he was subjected, mostly asked by people who did not vote for him in 2017 – we could not have been mistaken without this precision – were only pretexts to “sketch some convictions and some proposals" on education and purchasing power.

Emmanuel Macron has announced his intention to abolish the audiovisual license fee in the next five years and to triple the ceiling of the "Macron bonus", born after the crisis of "yellow vests".

Emmanuel Macron constantly alternates the hats of candidate and president, and knows how to flatter his audience when approaching Ukraine: "Before meeting you, I was with President Biden, tomorrow I will be with President Xi Jinping" , he says, seeming not to touch it.

Very comfortable

At the end, in the public, we find the conquered and even admiring eyes of the macronists of five years ago.

Some were already, like Laurent, who voted for him in 2017 and believes that the crises have "stolen three years of mandate" from his president.

Guillaume, in his forties, voted for Hamon in 2017, has not been "convinced about everything" during the past five years.

But he found the candidate “very comfortable” on Monday evening and thinks “to be convinced” on April 10.

It is true that Emmanuel Macron is terribly comfortable in this device.

And not only because the questions are easy – France Inter even demonstrated that they were prepared, but there was no doubt about it – or the public already conquered or almost.

It is therefore no coincidence that the “great national debate” format is making a comeback in the electoral campaign.

This type of device offers at least one image to the campaign of the outgoing president: that of a confrontation, certainly arranged, but which seems to be enough for the happiness of the walkers and walkers.

"Rather than having meetings where people applaud you because they are already convinced, I prefer the debate with the French, that's what I owe them," said Emmanuel Macron after the meeting in Poissy.

An element of language already widely taken up, and serves as an argument when the incumbent is criticized for evading the debate, the real one, with the other candidates.

Debate he refuses – it's been official since Monday evening.

To reassure the journalists present, he nevertheless specified that the time for their questions would come… but soon.

We could say that Emmanuel Macron is finally continuing his work of disintermediation, that he is breaking the codes.

He actually imposes his own.

Basically, even when he pretends to come down from the presidential Aventine to return to the ground of the cows, he does it with the assurance of someone who is high, very high in the polls, and can largely afford to impose its conditions to the debate.

And for him it is, “very gently”.

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Emmanuel Macron meets the inhabitants of Poissy for his first trip

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• Election campaign

• Elections

• The Republic on the March (LREM)

• Emmanuel Macron

• Presidential election 2022

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