the absence of Emmanuel Macron illustrates his difficult relations with elected officers | EUROtoday

The congress of mayors opens in a tense local weather with Emmanuel Macron. “There is overall distrust, including [de la part de ceux] who are very close to power”factors out David Lisnard, the president (Les Républicains, LR) of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), organizer of this occasion which opened on Monday in Paris, and which is able to shut its debates on Thursday, November 23.

Initially, the top of state made it recognized that he wouldn’t go to the political occasion, the “congress”, planning solely to go, on Wednesday, to the “salon”, the commerce honest which brings collectively the personal companions of town councilors inside a stone’s throw. A reception can be deliberate with “thousand mayors” on the Elysée Palace, the identical night.

Or the identical program as in 2022, as soon as once more arousing the anger of the AMF. On November 8, through the presentation of the 2023 version, these accountable didn’t conceal their annoyance. “If he comes to the salon, I will advise him to cross the street”, quipped the vice-president (Socialist Party) of the affiliation and mayor of Issoudun (Indre), André Laignel. The arrival of the President of the Republic, “that’s not the main thing”had judged Mr. Lisnard, estimating concerning the reception of town councilors, that“there are not two congresses of mayors: the congress where we work and the publicized congress of socialites at the Elysée”.

Pass of arms between David Lisnard and Emmanuel Macron

Finally, solely the mayors’ reception is maintained. Held on the similar time by a G20 summit by videoconference, Emmanuel Macron won’t even go to the “living room”, his entourage indicated on Monday. “And the Elysée did not go out of its way to find another niche by shaking up the agenda”confides an advisor to the chief.

“Lisnard politicizes the congress”sighs the identical interlocutor, conceding: “Given his ambitions, that’s understandable.” Reference to the best way by which the mayor of Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes) advances his pawns on the presidential chessboard. The elected official claims to work on the corpus of the proper, even when it means lining up behind the one who will carry “strong proposals, with sincerity, with the ability to win”. But, notes David Lisnard, “the polls show that there is no natural candidate”, for the second, at LR. Determined to play his card, he inaugurated the Paris places of work of his motion, Nouvelle Energie, at first of October.

Mr. Lisnard needs to consider that showing as an uncompromising interlocutor for the top of state may also help him construct presidential stature. In March, a skirmish had already opposed the 2 males over a gathering with native elected officers. The president of the AMF had invoked “a previous and major commitment to his municipality” to elucidate that he wouldn’t come to the Elysée. In response, the AMF was dismissed. “They didn’t meet on a private stage and David Lisnard doesn’t waste a chance to hit the presidentnotes the Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, Christophe Béchu. He makes use of the AMF as a sounding board. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been capable of create a celebration with a headquarters in Paris and native branches. »

You have 55% of this text left to learn. The relaxation is reserved for subscribers.