Thirty-eight days before the first round, he finally descended into the presidential arena. Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to run for a second term in a “Letter to the French”, posted online Thursday evening March 3, and which will be published on Friday in the regional daily press.
“I ask for your confidence for a new mandate as President of the Republic. I am a candidate to invent with you, in the face of the challenges of the century, a unique French and European response”writes the Head of State in this letter.
If he never directly mentions his competitors, in particular on the far right, Emmanuel Macron presents himself as a bulwark against the “upheavals of incredible rapidity” that marked his five-year term.
« Make no mistake: we will not respond to these challenges by opting for withdrawal or by cultivating nostalgia. (…) The challenge is to build the France of our children, not to dwell on the France of our childhood. »
In his letter, the president-candidate also defends his record.
Thanks to the reforms carried out, our industry has recreated jobs for the first time and unemployment has reached its lowest level for fifteen years. Thanks to everyone’s work, we have been able to invest in our hospitals and our research, strengthen our armies, recruit police officers, gendarmes, magistrates and teachers, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, continue to modernize our agriculture.
“We haven’t succeeded in everything. acknowledges the Head of State. There are choices that with the experience acquired with you I would no doubt make differently.. But the transformations undertaken during this mandate have enabled many of our compatriots to live better. »
Anxious to defend French sovereignty, he maintains that he “there is no independence without economic strength. We will therefore have to work more and continue to lower taxes on labor and production”. According to the Head of State, “we can make these times of crisis the starting point of a new era”.
Delayed by war in Ukraine
The ambition of the President of the Republic had been in no doubt for several months. But since the end of January, his declaration of candidacy has been constantly delayed, first by the resurgence of cases of Covid-19, then by the eruption and the stalemate of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The Head of State made this known in an interview with The voice of the North 1is February, stating in this regard: “First of all, I am obsessed that the acute phase of the epidemic and the peak of the current geopolitical crisis are behind us. »
Ten days later, questioned about his possible candidacy by West Francehe asserted: “I have ambition for our country and for our Europe. And I still have the desire and the appetite to do. » But due to international tensions, he felt that « [son] duty is to be fully concentrated on this task”. “The formalization of the choice I would have to make will come at the necessary time”, he explained.
First meeting in Marseille postponed
Despite an improvement in the health situation since mid-February, the start of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, Thursday February 24, again postponed this announcement. The day before, La République en Marche (LRM) had announced the holding of Mr. Macron’s first campaign meeting, which was to be held on Saturday March 5 in Marseille, foreshadowing an announcement in the days preceding the event. In view of the situation and with a Head of State monopolized by the management of the conflict, the postponement of this meeting was decided on Monday.
With nearly a month to go before the presidential election, everything is ready behind the scenes. For several months now, the Head of State has set up the teams responsible for preparing his re-election campaign. Avecvous2022.fr, the site prefiguring the launch of the latter, was put online discreetly at the end of January.
“President Macron has been serving candidate Macron for months,” commented Anne Hidalgo, the socialist candidate, for whom this announcement is ” without surprise “. Valérie Pécresse also reacted: “After having triggered the crisis of the “yellow vests”, after having been beaten in all the intermediate elections, faced with the rise of extremes and abstentionism, the power must no longer believe itself above the people. Emmanuel Macron must be accountable”, declared the candidate of the Les Républicains party.
For Marine Le Pen, questioned on France 2, the choice of the regional daily press, and not of a meeting or a television program, shows that Mr. Macron “All the same intends to stay back from this election, from this campaign in any case”. “About every line [de cette lettre], I disagree with him”, she added. She felt that the Head of State, apart from the war in Ukraine, is “the person responsible for all the crises that have occurred in his mandate, “yellow vests”, retirements, collapse of the hospital”.
“His balance sheet is tough”
In a press conference, a few hours before the broadcast of the “letter” of the President of the Republic, Fabien Roussel had judged that he « [était] time that he announces his candidacy and his program”. “His balance sheet, the French know it, it is hard, it has severely hit the purchasing power of our fellow citizens, sued the communist candidate for the Elysée. He refused to increase wages, to increase pensions. »
Yannick Jadot, from the Paris Agricultural Show, also reacted to this announcement, in an offensive mode:
Emmanuel Macron had been campaigning for a long time, he had been spending quite electorally for a long time. There is no ambiguity, once again: we must at the same time manage the absolute urgency of helping the Ukrainians in this tragic moment (…), and we must have a great democratic debate in our country.
“Mr. President of the Republic, I was expecting you, said Eric Zemmour, in a video posted on social networks. Here you are. The whole of France was waiting for our face-to-face, it will be able to begin. »
Emmanuel Macron facing the exercise of power