Ready to “endorse the unpopularity of the country”. These are the words of Emmanuel Macron during a television interview broadcast on TF1 and France 2 on Wednesday March 22, 2023. And the Head of State did not think so well: according to a BVA poll for RTL, only 28% of French men and women have a good opinion of the President of the Republic.
In addition to representing a figure down 6 points from last month, Emmanuel Macron is dangerously close to the lowest level reached in the midst of the Yellow Vests crisis in winter 2018. The president had then dropped to 26%.
Elisabeth Borne has reached the lowest popularity rating since her arrival at Matignon: only 28% of French women and men have a good opinion of the Prime Minister. This figure fell by 2 points in one month. The survey also reveals that 70% of those questioned are against the pension reform, and 64% say they support the mobilization.
In addition to losing popularity, the Macron-Borne duo could well be on the verge of crisis. According to a survey by Le Point, “relations are now degraded” between the President of the Republic and his Prime Minister.
Emmanuel Macron would have dropped: “You didn’t want Catherine Vautrin, you sold me Elisabeth Borne like the rare pearl, and that’s where we are!” Words he would have said to “his guard close”, between the use of 49.3 and the motion of censure.
A minister comments to the weekly: “In his heart of hearts, he must have said to himself that he had been right to want to spend the pensions in September by an amendment to the Social Security budget and that he would not have had to listen to those who dissuaded him”.
According to revelations from Le Canard enchaîné, the head of government, exhausted, would be ready to resign.
In its edition of March 22, 2023, the satirical newspaper claimed that Elisabeth Borne was “Borne-out”, ready to resign. Not with the intention of being relegitimized by the President of the Republic, “but with the intention of leaving”, specifies the Canard Enchaîné.
After the March 16 meeting at the Elysée Palace, an adviser to the Prime Minister reportedly said: “She totally cracked up, I think she’s had enough.”
If Emmanuel Macron renewed his confidence in Elisabeth Borne during his television interview, rumors continue to circulate concerning a potential replacement.
In a column published in Le Parisien, the deputy editor of the political department of the Ile-de-France daily shared a rumor concerning a replacement for Elisabeth Borne at Matignon. “Thus from this fulgurance emitted by a macronist at a Parisian political table: what if the president appoints François Baroin to Matignon?”, Writes Henri Vernet.
According to a “political strategist” interviewed by our colleagues, the mayor of Troyes would have the advantage of attracting the sympathy of the Republicans, and therefore of widening the presidential majority on the right. For now, this hypothesis remains at the stage of rumor.
