There are telescoping which make you smile … or wonder. This Friday, no less than four ministers made a stopover in Marseille, including government heavyweights Gerald Darmanin and Roselyne Bachelot. The Ministers of the Interior and of Culture chose to go to the second largest city in France… the very day that Renaud Muselier was to be officially re-elected at the head of the Paca region, in Marseille.
An election that took place at the end of a bitter campaign during which the outgoing president was sharply criticized for his rapprochement with LREM, announced with great fanfare in the Sunday Newspaper by the prime minister himself like the first stone of a political recomposition in progress.
“I am being accused of intent”
So now, after the earthquake within the right and the controversies of all kinds, how to govern the Paca region with this LREM that some on the right did not want? “I believe that out of the 84, there are 37 outgoing, annoys Renaud Muselier. That’s 60% new. In this majority, there were eight components. There are now ten. Inserts, at the Walkers, I think there are five. So it’s not a subject. Me, I add up from the start. I am being challenged on intent for an addition. “
“Today, we belong to the same group, with the same majority leader, who was the leader of our fight, Renaud Muselier,” says Jean-Pierre Serrus, former head of the senatorial list for LREM. There was no negotiation for positions. “
Transport at LREM
But just take a look at the organization chart to see the pledges given by Renaud Muselier to those close to Emmanuel Macron. Jean-Pierre Serrus thus obtains the strategic post of vice-president in charge of transport, main competence of the regional council, left vacant after the departure of Philippe Tabarot (LR). Vice-president in charge of transport within the metropolis of Marseille when he was LR, the one who does not hide “support Emmanuel Macron in the next presidential elections” will have to continue the privatization of TER, one of the pillars of the policy by Renaud Muselier.
At his side, the former head of the list for LREM in the municipal elections in the 13th and 14th arrondissements of Marseille, the MoDem Marie-Florence Bulteau-Rambaud, is renewed in his seat of vice-president in charge of high schools, another major skill of the regional council.
Macron’s close friend “special advisor”
Without counting on the so symbolic appointment of Sabrina Roubache as special regional advisor in charge of the great regional causes, self-proclaimed that are the fight against violence against women and the fight against school bullying. Presented as coming from civil society, the Marseillaise, who is living there her first term, is a close friend of the Macron couple.
“Emmanuel, I love him, he’s exceptional,” she smiles. But I was not a Walker. I have always been for Macron. My political commitment, I had it for the first time with the President. Renaud offered me a position of vice-president. But I didn’t want to. I have my box to manage next, you have to be reasonable. I would do anything to serve my region, but my commitment to the President will not budge. One does not prevent the other. “
“I ask you that we keep unity”
Allies within the regional council, LR and LREM will indeed possibly be adversaries in a few months, during the presidential elections. A pressure cooker-like configuration that can explode at any time, like the national explosion that Renaud Muselier caused within his camp. And the latter seems to be well and truly aware of it.
“I hope, and I ask you, that we keep unity within the group throughout this term of office,” he said during his inauguration speech. Of course, everyone will be free to choose their champion for the coming deadlines, but I will remain vigilant and uncompromising so that the national debates do not mar the region. We should never allow ourselves to be polluted by national politics. “
Falco and Estrosi at the podium
A mantra that Renaud Muselier, a bit vengeful, struggles to apply to himself. For his first moments as re-elected president, the Marseillais invited Hubert Falco to sit at his side, and the one who will remain his first vice-president, Christian Estrosi. Favorable to a rapprochement between the right and LREM, these two ex-LR slammed the door of the party during the campaign after the outcry caused by the alliance with the presidential majority for these regions.
Asked about this choice by 20 minutes, Renaud Muselier launches, with a big snub smile: “Political symbols are important in life. My political family did me nevertheless a rather incredible blow: that of putting me in difficulty the day when I add up behind me, somewhere, five walkers inserted. I was told about Falco and Estrosi: “Renaud, you have malicious friends”. I put them by my side because they are good friends. Words have a meaning in the French language… ”