Perched above the city, all the macronist gratin of Marseille is there. On this November morning, the official birth day of the committee for the re-election of President Emmanuel Macron of the Marseille city, the deputies Alexandra Louis and Claire Pitollat, who have worked for five years in the National Assembly, logically made the trip to the Tower of the Marseillaise. Alongside them are the mayor and regional councilor Jean-Pierre Serrus, former deputy of Jean-Claude Gaudin in the metropolis, today LREM. We also see Caroline Pozmentier, long deputy to the mayor of Marseille, or even Christophe Madrolle, in the local political microcosm for years.
But it is she who has the microphone, in the middle of her local political figures. It is she, the beginner, freshly elected, who has been responsible for coordinating this small world, with her banter so far removed from the polished language of experienced politicians, with a view to the presidential campaign. At 45, Sabrina Roubache has become, in a few years, one of the pillars of Macronie in Marseille. The young entrepreneur finds herself propelled into the political bath since she became a close friend of the presidential couple, and in particular of Brigitte Macron. A woman “top, that she likes”, according to her words.
From IAM to Netflix
The meeting with the Macron couple took place in 2016, in Marseille, during a dinner with the “living forces” of the city. But that evening, the table plan does not suit Sabrina Roubache. And for good reason: she would find herself separated from her husband, Philippe Agresti, then dean of the faculty of law and placed near Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron. “I told Brigitte that I wanted to be next to my boyfriend, remembers Sabrina Roubache. I had just met him, I was too thorough! The two couples find themselves side by side and discuss.
“I was invited to this dinner because I did Netflix, because I am the one who has a few networks everywhere and that I have kept, everyone knows, my connections in the neighborhoods”, summarizes Sabrina Roubache. Originally from Félix-Pyat, a disadvantaged city in which she met Akhenaton who got her started on IAM clips, the young woman of Algerian origin has just produced the series Marseilles. She is also known for being involved in several associations in Marseille. “I know Marseille well,” she boasts. From north to south, from east to west, I have connections from everywhere. »
“The one with the direct link”
Ten days after their first meeting, Emmanuel Macron asks her to open his biggest campaign meeting, which she accepts. She then becomes one of the small hands of the presidential campaign. What follows, with the victory of Emmanuel Macron, is a rapid ascent. As the years go by, without having any elective mandate, Sabrina Roubache becomes the one on whom the Elysée relies to take the pulse of the Marseille city. A strategic place at a time when the city occupies a central place in the policy of the president with the implementation of the vast plan “Marseille en grand”.
“You become anyway, despite yourself, the one who has the ear, the direct link with the president, to bring up files, summarizes Sabrina Roubache. I am the link between the president’s advisers and the field. “When Emmanuel Macron is in town at the end of the summer to detail “Marseille in a big way”, it is Sabrina Roubache who is asked by the Elysée to help draw up the list of “active forces” invited to dine at the fort. d’Entrecasteaux with the President of the Republic.
“Fortunately they consult me! »
“I invited guests to me, she admits. I brought in my former director of the Félix-Pyat school, for example. You are also asked who you would like to invite and who you think could be invited. “And to temper:” But it is the President of the Republic and his cabinet who make the invitations. I don’t say: “Him, no I don’t like him!” They consult me, and fortunately they consult me! I am in Marseille at home. I have been working for months with certain advisers on the development of “Marseille en grand”. »
A sign of the stuff she intends to take on in this budding political career: in recent months, Sabrina Roubache has come out of her role as a woman in the shadows, to openly launch herself into public life. After having been one of the kingpins, and incidentally financial agent of the campaign for the municipal elections of her husband Jean-Philippe Agresti, candidate with the LR Martine Vassal, the producer was elected in 2021 to the regional council alongside Renaud Muselier.
An asset for Muselier
For the president of the Paca region, Sabrina Roubache indeed ticks all the boxes. “She’s a woman,” he says. A woman for whom I have esteem and who returns it to me. Then I no longer have Nora Preziosi [élue marseillaise d’origine maghrébine et issue des quartiers Nord]. And I want to have someone who is representative of the opening of the Republic. And finally, it comes from culture. »
The proximity of Sabrina Roubache also makes it an asset for the regional president, who set up a union list with the walkers, before leaving Les Républicains. “She is “close to”, she has her relationship with En Marche, which suits me, recognizes this old political wolf. I appreciate that, when Madame Macron comes to Marseille, at the end of 2021, Sabrina says that we have to see Renaud, and that afterwards, I have an appointment of almost an hour and a half with her at the Sofitel. And Brigitte Macron started talking about what she had seen in Marseille, boxing clubs and all that… I told her we were going to talk politics. All the same ! »
“I’ve been here from the start”
Sabrina Roubache is now special regional adviser in charge of the fight against violence against women and school bullying. “Now, yes, I do politics,” she says. In my own way, with my own codes and my temperament. “And she obviously does not intend to stop there, in the upcoming election campaign. “Experience in politics does not make politics,” she says. I may be the least experienced, but I’m the most loyal. I’ve been there since the start, when everyone was for Fillon. »
The young woman has just released a book, Me, France, I like it!, published by Albin Michel, in which she looks back on her career and her commitments. Coincidence? This publication comes a few days before the long-planned visit of the President of the Republic, during which Emmanuel Macron wants to be able to measure the progress made possible by his plan for Marseille.