A welcome help for macronists. Édouard Philippe assured Thursday that he supported “without ambiguity, without flat, without I don’t know what little convolution” the pension reform wanted by the government. “If we want to guarantee our country […] constant prosperity [et] fund social justice measures, then we have to work harder,” the former prime minister said during of a long interview at BFMTV.
Rather rare in the media in recent months, the mayor of Le Havre has therefore come out of the woods to offer a helping hand to the executive, but also to discuss his illness and recall his ambitions for the presidential election of 2027.
Support the government on pensions
The discretion of Edouard Philippe in recent weeks on the pension reform was starting to get people talking among the majority. “He stays away from everything. He doesn’t get wet on anything. It was for 67 years. Do you hear it today? “, railed this week a fervent support of the president with AFP. Six months before the last presidential election, however, the mayor of Le Havre assured that the “first reform to be made” was that of pensions. His proposal to push back the starting age “to 65, 66 or 67” had also annoyed the presidential camp.
In trouble, Elisabeth Borne would therefore have personally called him to ask him to “do the job”, publicly defending the reform he called for last year. Two hours before her appearance on France 2, Thursday evening, the Prime Minister was delighted to hear her predecessor give her strong support: “The pension reform is important, difficult, contested but necessary”. In a context of strong social mobilization, macronie could hardly do without this support from the favorite political personality of the French.
Sweep away the rumors about his illness
It was less expected, but Edouard Philippe also mentioned his physical changes linked to alopecia, an autoimmune disease that affects his hair system. “Here’s what happened to me: I lost my eyebrows, and I don’t think they’ll come back […] My beard has turned white, it’s falling out a bit, the hair too. The mustache is gone,” he said. “I would have liked (..) perhaps hoped that it was not a subject. But I am forced to see that there are a lot of people in good faith who look at me, who see this, who are asking questions, ”he added.
His appearance has been the subject of questioning, speculation, and even attacks below the belt from his opponents in recent months. “He doesn’t look in good shape. I’m not a doctor, but if he looks like that, I’m not sure he inspires confidence in the French. It’s hard to say, but that’s political life ”, mocked in recent weeks, in private, a deputy from the National Rally.
The person concerned therefore swept away the rumours. “You will always find people who are a little miserable to explain that behind this there must be something a little more serious. That’s life [mais] it is neither painful, nor dangerous, nor contagious, nor serious”.
Stay in the game for 2027
At the end of this sequence, Edouard Philippe also took care to specify that alopecia “does not [l]does not prevent being extremely ambitious for [son] country “. Withdrawn to his Norman lands, the city councilor did not in fact draw the curtain on the national scene, since he reflects “on what a strategic project for France should be”. In the continuity of his last outings, the former juppeist keeps his distance from Emmanuel Macron, evoking “cordial” but “distant” relations. And if the former Prime Minister supports the current reform, he judges it “ more limited in its ambition. than the one he wore himself in 2019.
A veiled criticism that echoes the doubts of several elected Horizons in the National Assembly. “This is not our reform. With Edouard Philippe we would have done it differently. We would have done something more global, and not just parametric on the starting age. We should have made work the heart of the project, talking about unemployment insurance, seniors, learning…”, breathes an elected official close to the mayor of Le Havre. Edouard Philippe therefore continues to trace his path for the presidential election of 2027. And it is not certain, now, that the macronists are waiting so impatiently for his next outings.