The First Lady, who speaks little in the media, has multiplied in recent weeks the speeches which have sometimes embarrassed the macronie.
A First Lady who oscillates between media diet and public positions. For several weeks, Brigitte Macron has been making statements on hot topics for the executive, even if it means offending some within the presidential majority.
Asked about the very sensitive pension reform, the First Lady put her foot in the dish in early January. “What the youngest tell me is: ‘Anyway, we won’t have a pension'”, declares the wife of Emmanuel Macron on TF1. “Me, what I want to say to young people: everything is done so that you have a retirement.”
Brigitte Macron clarifies her thoughts this Wednesday morning on RTLensuring however “know nothing” about “the modalities of the reform”.
“Neither taste nor competence for politics”
In the absence of a precise legal status – she has neither a salary nor a political roadmap, while having a cabinet – Brigitte Macron has, however, so far taken care to remind regularly that she does not wish to take a position on the news.
“I have neither taste nor skill for politics”, she replied in 2019 on the same radio.
Since her arrival at the Élysée, the wife of the Head of State has also worked on the very consensual Operation Yellow Pieces, launched by Bernadette Chirac. In the entourage of the First lady, we insist on the absence of any change of foot.
“She answers the questions she is asked according to the news”, answers her cabinet, questioned by BFMTV.com.
“You will notice that she never goes out of her role and that she does not go into the details of the pension reform. She repeats what we can tell her during her meetings with the French.”
Cringe-inducing school uniform support
Brigitte Macron, however, embarrassed the macronie at the beginning of January, by supporting the wearing of school uniforms, even though the majority is very divided on the subject.
“It erases the differences, you save time – it’s time-consuming to choose how to dress in the morning – and money – compared to brands,” the First Lady said in an interview with readers of the Parisian.
If several deputies have tabled a bill to this effect, supported by Secretary of State Sonia Backès, Pap Ndiaye, the Minister of National Education is fiercely opposed to it. Worse still: these remarks are broadcast on the eve of the examination in session of a text defended by the RN in favor of a single outfit.
“I am puzzled, because on the one hand, she may have a completely respectable point of view, but she has no political role”, reacts Renaissance MP Anne Genetet.
Number 2 of the group in the National Assembly, she says she is “surprised by this calendar”.
“Thank you Mrs. Macron!”
Within the government, however, we united to defend Brigitte Macron. Gabriel Attal, Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, said on BFM TV appreciate “this beautiful debate” on the uniform. Stanislas Guérini, Minister in charge of the Public Service, declared himself just as “favorable” to the experimentation of the uniform in schools.
Marine Le Pen for her part obviously did not hesitate to claim support from the First Lady. “I take note of this agreement from Madame Macron, like that of many French people on this subject”, declared the patroness of the RN deputies at the rostrum of the National Assembly during the examination of the bill on the ‘uniform.
In the Lepenist ranks, “Thank you Madame Macron!” were even launched, just like “We want Brigitte”. What hinder the macronie.
“It did not delight anyone that the First Lady spoke on this subject because it puts us at odds within the majority”, sighs an elected Renaissance.
“Afterwards, you will notice that she does it on subjects she knows: youth, school,” he continues. “And that makes her indisputable even if we don’t think less of it.”
“We are not going to censor his words”
Proof that his position made the Minister of National Education uncomfortable, who was expected at the microphone to defend the position of the executive on the wearing of the uniform: it is Franck Riester, the Minister of Relations with Parliament, which responded to RN.
The relatives of Brigitte Macron kick, them, in touch. “She responds to a reader on school bullying when she gives her point of view on the uniform”, assures one of her close friends. “She is in a logic of discussion.”
“We are not going to censor his remarks because we are debating this subject that day in the Assembly”, continues this relative.
The pill is all the harder to swallow for Pap Ndiaye, the boss of rue de la Grenelle, as this is not the first time that the sixty-year-old has embarrassed him. At the beginning of December, the wife of the Head of State thus assured The Obs “not knowing him”.
A preference for Jean-Michel Blanquer?
The former professor of letters and the specialist in the United States have nevertheless made several visits together in recent months. In the entourage of Jean-Michel Blanquer’s successor, we also refer soberly “to the many common trips” between the two figures.
But difficult for this minister who is struggling to make his mark not to see it as a severe spade against his first steps. Brigitte Macron also remained close to her predecessor Jean-Michel Blanquer, with whom she shared some of the points of view.
Asked about inclusive writing in November 2021, on the sidelines of a trip with the minister, she took on Jean-Michel Blanquer’s mistrust in the matter. “There are two pronouns, ‘he’ and ‘she’. The language is so beautiful. And two pronouns, that’s good”, she advances, already disturbing in the macronie, who keeps a distance from this very eruptive subject.
In January 2022, she still supports the minister, in the midst of a media storm after a vacation in Ibiza and the announcement of a health protocol against Covid-19 deemed improvised by the teachers.
“When Brigitte Macron indicates that she does not know Pap Ndiaye, she means that she had never met him before his appointment. We must not see more than that”, defends his entourage today.
“She does not want to embarrass the president”
The First lady, however, has been distilling her little music in recent weeks. In The Obs, she says thus “to hear the silent majority”. A few weeks later, she tells the Parisian listen to “shopkeepers, people in the street”.
“It’s complicated for her because she’s a brilliant woman, who has an opinion on society and who, at the same time, does not want to embarrass the president”, assures a former ministerial adviser who appreciates her.
“She is in a balancing act and whatever she says, she knows that it will be scrutinized and that it could be against her,” adds this former government collaborator. “It’s a heavy pressure.”
And to evoke the case of the companions of the previous presidents like Cécila Sarkozy, Carla Bruni or Valérie Trierweiler who had all groped about their official role, while complying each time with the exercise of charitable actions, deemed consensual. Brigitte Macron does this with some success in public opinion: 55% of French people say they are satisfied with her as First Lady, according to a Ifop poll for Paris Match published in early 2022.
