The President of the Republic has been challenged several times in the Netherlands on the current political and social climate in France. A situation that has already occurred in the past and which embarrasses the majority as they wish to turn the page on the subject of pensions.
A protest movement that is exported, to the chagrin of the head of state. Emmanuel Macron ends his state visit to the Netherlands this Wednesday, a trip during which he was caught up in the social and political crisis that has affected France since the beginning of the year.
During the traditional press conference held jointly with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, he could not escape the subject. Emmanuel Macron has thus confirmed that he wants an “exchange” with the social partners after the decision of the Constitutional Council on the pension reform.
“His interview was not enough”
The President of the Republic was arrested no less than three times in the space of 24 hours. Welcome committee Tuesday near the Nexus institute where the president was giving a speech on Europe, interruption of it by a few demonstrators who unfurled a banner and finally arrest of two people this Wednesday for having chanted the popular song “We are here” … Actions that worry within the majority.
“We pay the price for a lack of contact with the French. It shows when security is lighter, as is the case in the Netherlands”, remarks a deputy to BFMTV.com.
“We see that people want to hear the president, to have his philosophy on pension reform. We feel that his interview was not enough. We have not purged the subject”, also notes a ministerial adviser.
The Head of State, who has increased international travel in recent months, has only had two trips in recent weeks allowing him to get in touch with pensions and to confront the French directly: at the Agricultural Show and at the Rungis market. But the president does not escape opposition during his other trips to France, as evidenced by that of last week in the Hautes-Alpes on the water level. Representatives of the CGT, which had provided him with a “welcome committee”, had been kept away from the president.
“We have our moment stolen”
If Emmanuel Macron had not faced protesters during his previous trip abroad to China, the incidents of this week are regretted by several members of the macronie.
“It’s a shame. We had time for the debate in Parliament. We must respect the moment when we are going to talk about European sovereignty. We are preparing the future of the French with that. We are having our moment stolen”, judges a majority framework.
“The president’s teams could have gone to meet the young people who challenged him to set up a dialogue. When the president is challenged, there is matter to convince, to dialogue. Emmanuel Macron is never as effective as face of the challenge”, estimates another framework of the majority.
“These anecdotes on the form take precedence over the substance. It does not advance the subject of pension reform nor the international subjects that the president carries”, regrets a former adviser to the Élysée.
“We see three gugus and we make it a matter of state”
The oppositions also jumped on these incidents which are, for them, because of the “passage in force” of the pension reform by the executive and the head of state while a twelfth day of mobilization must be held this Thursday, April 13. “He passes for a president who does not like his people and it ends up being seen everywhere on the planet”, estimated the deputy of the RN Sébastien Chenu Tuesday evening on BFMTV. For Socialist Senator Patrick Kanner, Emmanuel Macron “appears as a president disconnected from his population and authoritarian in wanting to impose this reform at all costs, it is a bad brand image”.
Other members of the majority nevertheless relativize on these arrests of the President of the Republic, which are in no way a novelty. “It’s a great classic in the president’s travels to have students questioned when you go to a university”, trivializes Loïc Signor, Renaissance spokesperson for BFMTV.com. “It’s already happened in Germany, India, the United States…”
“It’s not the first time”, also underlines Senator François Patriat at the BFMTV microphone, “I am not making it a major event (…) if he is arrested it is also because he is expresses with strong words and strong ideas”.
“Frankly, we see three gugus take out a banner and we make it a state affair. It’s the foam of the waves to have people not happy that they say it when they have the opportunity”, wants finally believe a macronist senator.
