Officially, everything is fine. To hear the Elysée, the good news would fly in squadron for Emmanuel Macron. Between “vaccination dynamics”, ” unemployment rate “ at the lowest or “the economic attractiveness of the country” for foreign investments, the Head of State would have nothing but reason to rejoice. Three months before the presidential election, the faithful of the “presidential candidate” are rather confident, recalling that the head of state remains the favorite in the polls.
In this seemingly azure blue sky, a few black clouds have nevertheless appeared in recent weeks, giving credence to the idea that Mr. Macron is going through a complicated period at the start of the year. With a series of bad news, which have accumulated. While the management of the crisis linked to Covid-19 appeared to be a strong point until now, the executive finds itself in difficulty on the health protocol to be followed in schools, in order to adapt to the wave of contamination caused by the Omicron variant. Pupils having to multiply the tests, disoriented parents, directors overwhelmed by administrative tasks… For three weeks, the multiple rule changes announced by the government have led to a « chaos » and a feeling of fed up denounced by teachers at the end of their tether.
In this already very tense context, the revelation by Mediapart, Monday, January 17, that Jean-Michel Blanquer was on vacation on the island of Ibiza, Spain, when he revealed to the Parisian the controversial health protocol for schools at the beginning of January had the effect of weakening the position of the Minister of Education a little more, and reinforcing the anger of the educational world against him. This suggests a renewed mobilization, during the strike scheduled for Thursday, January 20, after the large one that has already taken place on January 13.
“Loss of Control”
Faced with the opposition, which is calling for the minister’s resignation, castigating his “political and moral fault”, the top of the State strives to “block” to try to save the “Private Blanquer.” With the hope, above all, that this controversy does not reflect on the future candidate Macron. It doesn’t matter that Mr. Blanquer is ” burnt “, as an elected official of the majority admits, as long as it does not reactivate a trial in “disconnection” et en « arrogance » against the one who is about to run for a second term.
This dysfunction concerning the schools, however, fueled a decline in the confidence of the French in the ability of the executive to manage the health crisis as a whole. While they were 52% this summer to trust the authorities to respond effectively to the virus, they are now only 41%, according to the FIFG. What accredit, according to the director general of this polling institute, Frédéric Dabi, the idea of“loss of control” of Mr. Macron in this area, considered until then as one of his major assets.
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