Five months before this first electoral meeting since his re-election, the head of state is already exalting his European fiber and designating his main adversary.
A French flag drowned among the others: the decor chosen for the background of the end-of-year presidential address did not fail to provoke a reaction. Already, Emmanuel Macron affirmed the extranational challenges of a new year marked by the Olympic Games, but above all, by the European elections. The vote, which will take place on June 9 in France, will be the first electoral meeting since the 2022 legislative elections. And it does not look good for the presidential camp, according to the latest polls which put the National Rally in the lead. So for the head of state, the campaign has already started.
Emmanuel Macron’s strategy is clear: embody the camp of Europeanism and Europhilia. And present to him the portrait of a resolutely anti-Europe adversary and bearer of a project destructive of the Union as it exists. The president did not wait to launch hostilities. In his wishes of December 31, he announced the color, describing a year 2024 “of decisive choice”: “We will have to make the choice of a stronger, more sovereign Europe, in the light of the legacy of Jacques Delors “, he declared.
And to oppose the camp of those who want to “stop Russia and support the Ukrainians” to those who want to “give in to the European powers in Ukraine”. A clear attack towards the RN, which continues to oppose the European sanctions decided against Moscow since the start of the conflict. And, to a lesser extent, towards the Melenchonist left and its ambiguities on Russia before the invasion in Ukraine. The president gave the choice between “continuing Europe or blocking it”, “affirming the strength of liberal democracies or giving in to the lies which sow chaos.” Facing him, therefore, is the “chaos” of oppositions, from the extreme right as well as the left.
From Friday January 7, Emmanuel Macron will have a golden opportunity to reaffirm his European fiber: the Head of State has decided to pay a national tribute to Jacques Delors, this “inexhaustible craftsman of our Europe” who died on December 27. By presiding over this ceremony at Les Invalides, Macron is giving himself the opportunity to celebrate his vision of European construction, a barely disguised campaign act. The campaign will continue, according to information from Le Figaro, with a “Sorbonne bis speech” planned for February or March by the Head of State, a new opportunity to define his objectives for the EU.
Because what would happen to Macronie if these elections were a failure? Already deprived of a majority in the National Assembly, the presidential camp is still looking for a successor to its leader for 2027. For an advisor to Emmanuel Macron, cited by Les Echos, these elections “are essential because they will determine the color of the end of the five-year term. If we do well, the central bloc will be perpetuated, but if it is a failure, it will be the dislocation of this bloc.”
