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Myriam Encaoua: He wandered for almost four hours this afternoon. He towers far above the crowd and is obviously eagerly awaited, now that we know he is a candidate. It was Porte de Versailles. Teddy Riner was the center of sights and attention. Five-time Olympic champion and now a candidate, he took the opportunity to dispel misunderstandings. “No, I am not a Macronist,” he firmly refuted. Nobody plays puppets with Teddy Riner. He even explained that Emmanuel Macron's congratulations, delivered on France 5 in the show C à vous, were, according to him, "poisoned kisses". Some supports are sometimes weights. Do you believe that, Jean-Sébastien Ferjou? Is he independent of power?
Jean-Sébastien Ferjou: If he says it, yes, I think that Teddy Riner is capable of having autonomy of thought. Afterwards, the question of whether he has no political family can be understood in different ways. He has none, in the sense that he is not attached to a party, or perhaps to a political camp, but I am not sure. I still believe in this divide, even if I notice that it no longer speaks to many French people. So I believe he is sincere too. Afterwards, he evolves in an environment which still has a certain political color. That doesn't mean it was launched.
What did you think when you learned about this application? Did you think something was happening?
Jean-Sébastien Ferjou: There are two things in a presidential election: a program and, finally, an attitude. In his first video, Teddy Riner says something which, I think, can speak to many French people who feel orphaned by politics, and perhaps even orphaned by a sense of the general interest. Now, it is not enough to say that for it to create a campaign and to make a President of the Republic, far from it.
What shocked me the most was seeing all these people on social media referencing his color. Everyone sees that he is black, but consider that, because he is black, it is necessarily an attempt by those in power to try to counter Jean-Luc Mélenchon... And frankly, all the trolls in the galaxy with the turtles, etc., who attack him because he was the target of delusional racist insults... But we have the right, whatever our color and whatever our origins, not to choose the political family that we thought we had to join the left because we come from a visible minority.
We will see his political positioning and who he takes votes from later, but I would like to hear from you, Laurent Joffrin. He is not a Macronist. Are you excited about this application or, on the contrary, are you one of those who are already tired?
Laurent Joffrin: I find him friendly, like 80% of French people. He's an intelligent boy, very strong-willed and, what's more, he's an outstanding sportsman. That still has a lot of qualities. And I don't think it's being manipulated. I think he's telling the truth. It was not at all Macron who launched it to organize things. On the other hand, you have to listen to what he says. I listen to him. What does he say? He says: “I am neither right nor left, I am not in the political inner circle and I believe very much in the affirmation of individual will, in success and in meritocracy.” This is exactly what Macron said when he launched.
It's not the same origin. It's not the same route.
Laurent Joffrin: That’s what I said at first. But I listen to what people say. There's no point in conspiracy-mongering. Besides, if there are people behind, I don't care. I listen to what he says. And what he says is exactly Macron. I'm not going to say it's good or bad, we just see that it's the same idea: "I'm at the center." In general, with Macron, the center leans more towards the right, but two or three things that he was able to say on a programmatic level go in this direction. When he says we're going to get rid of the 35-hour week, that's not really the left.
It's true that he has already spoken, in his video which has 20 million views, about the economy, the debt which alarms him, work, with his desire to eliminate the 35-hour week, pensions, which he considers to be an essential reform, and security. He also deplores the disappearance of state authority.
Laurent Joffrin: The left is not against the authority of the State, so we are not going to make it say what it does not say either. But, once again, it is a positioning that corresponds to the political space and the school of thought in which Emmanuel Macron was already located.
