On the list of those promoted to the Legion of Honor appears the name of a former devotee of Nicolas Sarkozy, to whom Emmanuel Macron has already made some jokes in the past.
On December 31, the 352 names of the 2023 promotion of the Legion of Honor were revealed in the Official Journal. Among them, a former right-wing senator is one of the personalities personally appointed by Emmanuel Macron. This is not the first time that the Head of State has made a gesture of friendship for this former close friend of Nicolas Sarkozy, who maintains barely concealed affinities with the Parisian macronie.
This new officer of the Legion of Honor is Pierre Charon. Senator from Paris from 2011 to 2023 under the colors of the UMP then the Republicans, Pierre Charon lost his seat last September during the senatorial elections. And this, despite negotiations in its favor on the part of the macronie, affirmed by Le Figaro. Dismissed by his own party which refused to support him, the outgoing senator resolved to present a dissident list, “Let’s Liberate Paris!”, as he did in 2011. “I’m in the disruptive business. “they forgot on the side of the road. They shouldn’t have, I know how to hitchhike,” he declared to Libération.
While the presidential majority had nominated its own candidate for the Parisian senatorial elections in September, in the person of Julien Bargeton, part of the Macronist camp would have discreetly pushed the candidacy of Pierre Charon, considered to have better chances of victory. “Emmanuel Macron is never very clear. He did not dare to disconnect Julien Bargeton but knows that he has no chance so he is trying to elect a benevolent senator,” a Paris advisor confided to Le Figaro. Losing strategy, since the Sarkozyst ultimately failed to save his seat.
The good understanding between Pierre Charon and Emmanuel Macron is not new. The former senator appeared, for example, on the guest list for the second inauguration ceremony of the President of the Republic. “Pierre Charon speaks with the Élysée,” said a minister to Le Figaro this summer. The person himself admitted to being “an afternoon visitor” to the presidential palace.
