A First Lady who oscillates between the media diet and public office. For several weeks, Brigitte Macron has been making statements on burning issues for the executive, even if that means offending some within the presidential majority.
Asked about the very delicate pension reform, the First Lady put her foot on the plate at the beginning of January. “What the youngest tell me is: ‘In any case, we will not have a pension'”, declares Emmanuel Macron’s wife on TF1. “I, what I want to say to young people: everything is done so that they have a retirement.”
Brigitte Macron clarifies her thoughts this Wednesday morning on RTLassuring however “they know nothing” about “the modalities of the reform”.
“Neither taste nor competition for politics”
Lacking a precise legal status – she has no salary or political roadmap, though she does have a cabinet – Brigitte Macron has so far been careful to remind herself regularly that she does not wish to take a position on the news.
“I have neither taste nor ability for politics,” he replied in 2019 on the same radio.
Since her arrival at the Elysée, the wife of the Head of State has also worked on the widely agreed Operation Yellow Pieces, launched by Bernadette Chirac. In the First Lady’s entourage we insist on the absence of any change of foot.
“She answers the questions that she is asked according to the news,” answers her cabinet, questioned by BFMTV.com.
“You’ll notice that she never steps out of her role and doesn’t go into the details of pension reform. She repeats what we can tell her during her meetings with the French.”
Shiver-inducing school uniform support
Brigitte Macron, however, embarrassed the macronie in early January by supporting the use of school uniforms, despite a majority being sharply divided on the issue.
“It erases the differences, you save time, it’s a waste of time choosing 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 presented a bill to this effect, supported by Secretary of State Sonia Backès, Pap Ndiaye, the Minister of National Education is fiercely opposed. Worse still: these declarations are disseminated on the eve of the examination in session of a text defended by the RN in favor of a single group.
“I am puzzled because, on the one hand, you can have a completely respectable point of view, but you have no political role,” reacts the Renaissance deputy Anne Genetet.
Number 2 of the group in the National Assembly, says she is “surprised with this calendar.”
“Thank you Mrs Macron!”
However, within the government we unite to defend Brigitte Macron. Gabriel Attal, Delegate Minister of Public Accounts, said the bfm tv I appreciate “this beautiful debate” on the uniform. Stanislas Guérini, Minister in charge of the Public Service, also declared himself “favorable” to the experimentation of the uniform in schools.
For her part, Marine Le Pen obviously did not hesitate to claim the support of the First Lady. “I take note of this agreement of Mrs. Macron, like that of many French people on this issue,” declared the patroness of RN deputies on the rostrum of the National Assembly during the examination of the bill on the ‘uniform’.
In the Lepenist ranks, “Thank you, Mrs. Macron!” they were even released, like “We want Brigitte.” What hinders the macronie
“No one was amused that the First Lady spoke about this issue because it makes us at odds within the majority,” sighs a Renaissance elect.
“Later, you will notice that he does it on topics he knows: youth, school,” he continues. “And that makes it 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 Executive’s position on the use of uniform: it is Franck Riester, Minister of Relations with Parliament, who responded to RN.
Brigitte Macron’s relatives kick them, in contact. “He responds to a reader about bullying when she gives her point of view about the uniform,” says one of her close friends. “She’s in a discussion logic.”
“We are not going to censor his statements because we are debating that issue that day in the Assembly,” continues this family member.
The pill is even harder to swallow for Pap Ndiaye, the boss of rue de la Grenelle, since it 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, however, made several visits together in recent months. In the entourage of Jean-Michel Blanquer’s successor, we also soberly refer to “the many common trips” between the two figures.
But difficult for this minister who is struggling to make his mark, not see it as a severe shovel against his first steps. Brigitte Macron also remained close to her predecessor Jean-Michel Blanquer, with whom she shared some of her views.
Asked about inclusive writing in November 2021, on the sidelines of a trip with the minister, she assumed Jean-Michel Blanquer’s mistrust in this regard. “There are two pronouns, ‘he’ and ‘she.’
In January 2022, he continued to support the minister, in the midst of a media storm after a vacation in Ibiza and the announcement of a health protocol against Covid-19 improvised by the teachers.
“When Brigitte Macron indicates that she does not know Pap Ndiaye, she means that she had never met him before their appointment. We should not see more than that, ”she defends her entourage today.
“She doesn’t want to embarrass the president”
The First Lady, however, has been distilling her music in recent weeks. Within the obs, says so “to listen to the silent majority.” A few weeks later, she tells the Parisian listen to “the merchants, the people in the street”.
“For her it is complicated because she is a brilliant woman, who has an opinion on society and who, at the same time, does not want to embarrass the president,” says a former ministerial adviser who appreciates her.
“He is in a juggling act and whatever he says, he knows that he is going to be scrutinized and that it may be against him,” adds this former government collaborator. “It’s a strong pressure.”
And to evoke the case of the companions of previous presidents such as Cécila Sarkozy, Carla Bruni or Valérie Trierweiler who had groped about their official role, while each time carrying out charitable actions, considered consensual. Brigitte Macron does so with some success in public opinion: 55% of the French say they are satisfied with her as First Lady, according to an Ifop survey for Paris Match published at the beginning of 2022.
Source: BFM TV
