He is making his comeback, a little after everyone else. Edouard Philippe is organizing the parliamentary days of his party, Horizons, in Fontainebleau (Seine-et-Marne) this weekend. Round tables on unemployment insurance, immigration or climate debt, an assembly of mayors… But it is indeed the speech of the mayor of Le Havre, at the end of the event on Friday evening, which is expected. Because the former Prime Minister of Emmanuel Macron has been very discreet in recent months, distilling his word drop by drop in the media. A strategy claimed by the one who tops the popularity polls and no longer hides his ambitions for the 2027 presidential election.
“It’s a little early to play for your apple”
“He has a voice that carries, he uses it wisely, assures Cendra Motin, former LREM deputy from Isère. He created Horizons to share a vision of France in the very long term, not to talk about the sex of barbecues or enter into these debates at the level of the daisies, ”adds the referent of the movement in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. During the summer, Edouard Philippe therefore kept his distance from the daily controversies. But also of Emmanuel Macron and his friends, brazenly zapping, last week, the launch of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR), the new baby of the President of the Republic. “Before thinking about 2027, he should have started by being there on September 8. We cannot say that we are a reformer if we are not there to reform”, would have annoyed the head of state in private, according to the Chained Duck.
The interested party had more urgent things to do: a visit to Canada, punctuated by a long dissertation on “the art of governing” in front of… political science students from Laval University in Quebec. “A long-planned move”, cuts support. But several elected officials from Horizons do not hide the fact that the former head of government never really joined the CNR wanted by the tenant of the Elysée. A new echo of the strategy chosen by Edouard Philippe for this five-year term: to be in the majority while playing its singularity. Support Emmanuel Macron without denying any of his personal ambitions. A “at the same time” with Philippe sauce, which annoys his Macronist allies even more.
“I don’t understand what he’s doing. When you know that a presidential election crystallizes in December of the previous year, it’s a little early to play for your apple, ”breathes a MoDem deputy. “Politics is action. He wants to stand back from the arena, but at the speed at which politics is currently going, five years, it’s going to be hard to hold on…”
“I am not at all afraid that the French will forget it”
This is the challenge for Edouard Philippe. “He left Matignon in early July 2020 in a state of grace in terms of popularity, and he keeps this good opinion among a majority of French people, remarks Frédéric Dabi, Director General Opinion at Ifop. But a presidential election is never won by staying on its Aventine, and the political cemeteries are filled with very popular personalities who have not been able to mobilize…”, adds the pollster. His enemies predict him the same fate as his mentor, Alain Juppé. Favorite in the polls for many months, the ex-mayor of Bordeaux had fallen heavily in the right-wing primary in 2016.
Withdrawn to Le Havre, Edouard Philippe nevertheless has a few weapons to keep the flame alive: a group of 29 deputies in the Assembly, numerous mayors, and two government representatives, Christophe Béchu (Ecology) and Agnès Firmin Le Bodo (Territorial organization and health professions). “I am not at all afraid that the French will forget it”, confides a Horizons deputy. “There is a Philippe legacy, he knew how to take a step back and holds a unique place in the country. His word is expected and he will have many opportunities to speak during the five-year term, ”he adds. “Yes, he will stay in the game laughs Cendra Motin. “He is president of one of the three parties of the majority, it is not nothing. It will carry a specific voice but without trying to go faster than the music”.
Horizons will continue its territorial implementation in the coming weeks, with the establishment of 500 local committees. These could serve as support points for the Tour de France envisaged by Edouard Philippe, who is also preparing a new book. Move forward, in small steps, without showing too much. During the summer, Edouard Philippe made it known that he read The Red Sphinx, by Alexandre Dumas, devoted to Richelieu. “Knowing how to dissimulate is the knowledge of kings”, wrote the cardinal. No one doubts now that Edouard Philippe hopes one day to be crowned.