Gabriel Attal, with visitors, in front of the Olympic cauldron, in the Tuileries garden, in Paris, July 31, 2024. ABDUL SABOOR / REUTERS
Alone on stage. Or almost. This Wednesday, July 31, from the Matignon council chamber, surrounded by part of the government team, Gabriel Attal takes on the accents of a clan leader. It’s been a week since the Paris Olympic Games (JO) began. The opening ceremony was, despite some controversy, a global success. And the French medals are piling up.
Emmanuel Macron tweets from hour to hour to congratulate the champions. But the President of the Republic has deserted the capital. The Head of State has been in exile at Fort de Brégançon, in the Var, since Sunday, July 28, to get some fresh air and mature his plan to get out of the crisis caused by the dissolution of the National Assembly. Gabriel Attal, for his part, resigned the day after the defeat in the legislative elections. But for lack of a replacement, the head of the former majority cannot, like most ministers, leave Paris. Olympic duty. So why not reap a few crumbs of this Olympic glory and let a little of the popular fervor fall back on this resigning government?
Matignon summons the cameras, focused on Gabriel Attal when he speaks in front of his ministers: ” With these Games, we have chosen ambition. This ambition is paying off,” boasts the head of the executive, recalling the feat of the opening ceremony on the Seine. “Some had predicted failure or disaster. Yet we did it. That evening our fellow citizens felt proud to be French,” continues the thirty-year-old who is living his last days on Rue de Varenne. In mid-August, Emmanuel Macron should, barring any unforeseen circumstances, appoint a new head of government in charge of finding an impossible coalition starting from a fragmented National Assembly.
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“As soon as there is a medal, he is there”
Around the council table, with a tanned face, the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, struggles to hide his disappointment at closing a political parenthesis that had fascinated him. Facing him, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, in a white shirt without a tie to, in his own words, show that he no longer belongs to this “elite” who has seceded from the people, has a vague look in his eyes. Absent, the Minister Delegate responsible for equality between women and men, Aurore Bergé, has been excused. The Olympic Games are “a real success on all levels”, continues Gabriel Attal who continues: “We will be there until the last second. We will not lower our guard, whatever the institutional or political situation. Success is our responsibility.”
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2024-08-01 04:30:05
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