The scene has long caused hilarity among those close to Emmanuel Macron. One day in 2019, a television journalist called the Elysée switchboard to ask to speak with a political adviser to the head of state. The phone call goes through the secretary of the person concerned. “I have a reporter for you on the phoneshe warns, handset in hand. But I remind you that you have no right to speak to them! » So are the house rules. No question of risking an exit outside the nails of official communication.
Emmanuel Macron has learned the lesson of his years spent with François Hollande, deemed too prolific in the commentary of his action. Image and sound must be mastered down to the last detail; otherwise, it’s chaos, driving the weakness from which his predecessor suffered so much. A concern for control that requires a commando organization, where the cult of secrecy reigns. The presidential campaign in which the tenant of the Elysée has just embarked is no exception to this rule in force for five years.
Since his declaration of candidacy, on March 4, Emmanuel Macron has been listing some of his proposals. Raising the retirement age to 65, abolishing the audiovisual license fee… Each time, they come as a surprise, including in its own ranks, where some parliamentarians lament to discover these measures ” while watching TV “like everyone. “This is the secrecy campaign. We know as much as you! », laments a history of Macronie to journalists. Information does not circulate beyond the circle of those who have “need to know”according to the formula used in intelligence services.
Even the closest interlocutors of the President of the Republic might not consult the program as a whole, which will be revealed around March 20. A dozen privileged people are kept in confidence, including the secretary general of the Elysée, Alexis Kohler, the special adviser, Clément Léonarduzzi, the “pen”, Jonathan Guémas, or tenors, like the president of the Assembly national, Richard Ferrand, and that of the MoDem, François Bayrou. The fear of flight sometimes borders on paranoia, the office neighbor being suspected of being too talkative with journalists. The feathered hats of the majority were thus made aware of the launch of the campaign site, Avecvous.fr, only a few hours before the press, on January 27.
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