"I want to reiterate my confidence in him," the head of state told the press when questioned during a trip to Bratislava.

"When I have things to say to the prime minister for six years, I say it in a singular colloquium from which nothing comes out and we settle things together," he said. "I never do it around the cabinet table, through the media."

A clarification supposed to dispel the impression of reframing born of remarks he just made Tuesday in the Council of Ministers, and which had been reported to the press by participants. And this while speculation is rife about the deterioration of relations between the two heads of the executive.

While Elisabeth Borne had estimated during the weekend that the RN was an "heir of Pétain" carrying a "dangerous ideology" and whose ideas should not be "trivialized", Emmanuel Macron had called Tuesday not to fight the far right "by moral arguments" but by "the substance" and "the concrete".

These statements had been strongly criticized by the other oppositions.

The most virulent charge came from Olivier Marleix, boss of the deputies The Republicans, who presents himself as an heir of Gaullism and castigated on Public Senate remarks "unwelcome" of the head of state.

The leader of the LR deputies Olivier Marleix after a meeting at the Hotel Matignon, October 13, 2022 in Paris © Bertrand GUAY / AFP / Archives

He recalled that the "Republican barrage" and the "demonization" of the RN had allowed Emmanuel Macron to be elected in 2017 and re-elected five years later in the second round against Marine Le Pen.

'Cynicism'

"Now that he is no longer eligible for re-election, come and tell us that after him finally the flood, I find it extremely unhealthy," he said, denouncing a "rather incredible cynicism".

A position shared by Xavier Bertrand, LR president of the Hauts-de-France region, who also called not to forget the "history" of the RN so as not to contribute to its trivialization.

If he assured that he was not in the habit of reframing his Prime Minister in public or even in the Council of Ministers, Emmanuel Macron nevertheless assumed Wednesday a position distinct from that of Elisabeth Borne.

He went even further than Tuesday by estimating that one could "no longer beat" the far right "simply with historical and moral arguments" -- the term "historical" referring directly to the reference to Philippe Pétain, the head of the Vichy regime who collaborated with Nazi Germany.

According to him, these arguments are insufficient "because this far right has transformed" and "it has many voters today who do not vote for this story but vote because they say to themselves, +we have not tried this yet+".

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne at the exit of the Council of Ministers at the Elysee, May 30, 2023 © Alain JOCARD / AFP

This new episode in any case revives speculations about a possible change of Prime Minister soon, while several executives of the presidential camp report a constant annoyance of Emmanuel Macron in the face of the limits of his government.

For some, on the left, the head of state has even come to ignore the personal history of Elisabeth Borne.

RN demands apology

The first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure recalled on Twitter that Elisabeth Borne was the daughter of a survivor of the Holocaust and that she was legitimate to recall "the filiation of the extreme right".

Green MEP David Cormand advised the head of government on Twitter to resign after "such a disavowal on such a fundamental point".

An observation that does not share the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire who has denied, on the contrary, any presidential disavowal.

In her eyes, Elisabeth Borne is "perfectly justified" to recall historical facts. And it is possible to do so "while fighting the RN on its proposals and ideas," he added.

The president of the National Rally Jordan Bardella, March 21, 2023 in Paris © Thomas SAMSON / AFP / Archives

Within the opposition, it is finally only the far right that has spared Emmanuel Macron. Like Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally, who preferred to ask Elisabeth Borne to apologize for statements that, according to him, "shocked many French"

© 2023 AFP