We are supposed to be in the middle of the “100 days of appeasement and unity” wanted by the President of the Republic after the pension reform. And yet, it has not escaped anyone that Emmanuel Macron has taken up one of his favorite exercises: the little shock sentence, considered provocative or contemptuous. “It’s not pans that will move France forward”, “They are there to make noise, not to discuss”, the demonstrators described as “a crowd”… And these are only excerpts.
What to understand from the communication strategy of the President of the Republic? 20 minutes asked political communication expert Ariane Ahmadi.
The executive speaks of appeasement but at the same time, there are remarks considered provocative, even contemptuous. How to explain it?
I don’t think the president is in a desire to appease. In reality, this return to the field is first and foremost a way of reconnecting with the DNA of En Marche in 2017, that is to say, getting in touch. It seems a long time ago, but remember: it was a question of going to collect the grievances, of the famous Great march before the presidential election. To be really on the move, in the field, to collect people’s words and to stage them in very respectful disagreements.
Today, therefore, there is rather a desire to remobilize its base. It’s true that there are many comments like “he tries to silence anger but at the same time, he says that”… In my opinion, the initial hypothesis is wrong. It is rather a way of reaffirming its brand by integrating the latest events. A job he had never done.
That’s to say ?
There was the Macron of 2017, the “at the same time”, the “start-up nation” and “En Marche”. But with the relative majority in 2022, there has been a change in political tone compared to the initial DNA. However, since then, a job has not been done: that of asking oneself “where am I from my origin? From my starting point, compared to everything that has happened since 2017? “.
The pension reform was a climax, and that is what he is doing. He is absolutely not trying to appease, but to affirm where he is today.
First, it takes up the “democrats against populists” opposition. Second, as an extension, “the rules of law against the law of opinion”. And in three, we roughly reconnect with “complex thought against instantaneous time”. It is the discourse of “unpopular reforms must be carried out”.
There is therefore not necessarily the idea of breaking the front of the opposition, but rather of flattering its base…
When I talk about remobilizing his base, I’m talking about those who are still there. That is to say an electoral base that was there after the “yellow vests”, after the strikes and the pension reform of 2020, after the war in Ukraine and after a presidential campaign not necessarily successful.
But there is also the reconquest of what I call a second circle, the centre-left walkers, the disappointed walkers. I don’t think at all that his will is, for example, to convince the people of Nupes, or the people who are a little radicalized in their anger. Because all it shows is rather “this is what I am and now I’m explaining to you why I am like that, and why I think that”. We are more in a process of after-sales service of the balance sheet. And as the assessment is always a time of opposition, we don’t just make an assessment, we propose new things.
Should it be translated as “I trace my route no matter what”?
Absolutely. Even if Emmanuel Macron is too strongly tainted by the mark of the contemptuous president, the president of the rich, he is in the “I remain myself whatever the cost. That is to say that he tries, but much too late, to say “I made choices, I assume them”. And for that, he leaves his palace and comes to the French. Because assuming, of course, involves talking, but also showing oneself.
He wants to show that he is back to work at the national level. Because we no longer had an image, stylistically and in terms of brand, of Macron. As it had become internationalized in its image.
You use the term “contemptuous”, which sticks to the skin of Emmanuel Macron. Does he think he can no longer change it? That it won’t put him at a further disadvantage?
I think so. Afterwards, in political communication, we are never in a dynamic where we think we can gain nothing. On casseroles, for example, everyone says it’s not good for their image. Of course, it’s not great. Nevertheless, looking at the images, what helps him a little is that alongside those who beat the pots, you have a lot of people, who we understand as non-macronists or in any case or disappointed, who go tell him everything they think of him. It’s almost clever. This illustrates his exit on the protesters who only make noise.
Let’s be clear: there is no political victory in this for Emmanuel Macron, there is no victory. But I don’t find these images so shocking.