The main actor is not yet on stage but behind the scenes, a shadow army is already orchestrating the raising of the curtain. While the formalization of Emmanuel Macron’s candidacy for the presidential election is imminent, his campaign team has already been organizing his entry into the arena for several months.
Finance, support, project… Quite discreetly, regarding fifty employees work in a building located at 28, rue d’Edimbourg, in the 8e district of Paris. With a well-defined mission: to ensure that everything is ready when the “president-candidate” starts. “We are making the final adjustments to the car so that the driver only has to turn the key in the ignition”, smiles the deputy and spokesperson for La République en Marche (LRM), Roland Lescure.
With 2,800 square meters spread over two buildings, the “HQ” adjoins the headquarters of LRM, at 68, rue du Rocher, nicknamed “La Ruche”. A geographical location which symbolizes the functioning of the Macronist troops: the team focused on the preparation of the ballot of April 10 and 24 works independently, but in close relation with the movement, under the discreet management of the Elysée.
With one invariant: whether it is state affairs or the organization of the campaign, the most influential figure, apart from Mr. Macron, remains Alexis Kohler. Considered the “twin” of the President of the Republic, the stainless secretary general of the Elysée, in office for five years, centralizes and decides on all major decisions. “Each arbitration goes through him, even when it is necessary to validate the creation of a support committee in Creuse! », smiled a majority leader. Presented as a « Macron bis », He’s playing the role of ” brain “with the task of preparing the project.
cult of secrecy
His mission ? Collect, sort and synthesize the avenues for reform, which emerge from the “HQ”, through the “ideas” and “civil society” poles. The first is made up of around thirty working groups, led by experts, under the leadership of Pierre Bouillon, former director of the France services program, with the help of the former adviser to the Elysée, David Amiel , as well as Ismaël Emelien, one of the architects of victory in 2017, behind the scenes.
The second, headed by Roland Lescure and Anne de Bayser, former deputy secretary general of the Elysée, brings together around fifty “ambassadors”. Understand: figures not engaged in politics, but specialists in a specific field (such as the producer of shows Jean-Marc Dumontet on culture), responsible for feeding the suggestion box in which the candidate can draw. “We seek to detect the weak signals of society”, explains the general delegate of LRM, Stanislas Guerini, in close connection with the “HQ”.
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