To be sure of being the first to pass, she has been waiting for an hour, standing, leaning on her cane, with her little dog on a leash. Behind her, a long, disciplined line snakes between the book shelves until it ends at the Grand-Place de Lille. This Tuesday, October 15, the Le Furet du Nord bookstore welcomes a former president who has come to sign his new book. The challenge of governing. The left and power from the Dreyfus case to the present (Perrin, 2024). The lady approaches and smiles a huge smile: “We miss you very much, Mr. Hollande. » And pointing to his dog: “ I present to you Romeo. » “It is very important, dogs” he answers. She : “Yes, it does me a lot of good. » Him : “If I had known, I would have come with Philae [son labrador]. » He hands her his copy, a sign that the time has come to give up his place.
Everyone approached a curiosity: a former president who had become a deputy again (only Valéry Giscard d’Estaing had carried out this reconversion). Some come to express their admiration, take a selfie or, more prosaically, send a CV. “I have a story with you”, “you are very important to me”, “you made me want to get involved”…
In the procession, a majority of students and, above all, female students. These two ask the former head of state to record a short video for their philosophy teacher, to apologize for missing class. He does it with pleasure. “Louanne and Solenn apologize for not being with you because they are with me. » A shy young woman approaches: “My father worked in the steel industry and I never had the answer to why he lost his job. I thought you could help me. » And here the former is forced to return, once again, to the closure of the Florange blast furnaces (Moselle), which caused, in November 2012, the first government crisis of his five-year mandate.
Some are also there to tell him that they hope to vote for him in the next presidential election. “Will you be there in 2027? »asks a political science student. Him : “If there is a possibility… The truth is that we must win… So if I manage to generate a force around me…” Close each meeting with ” see you soon “, like a promise. In the car that takes him back to Lille station, he pretends to be surprised by this return of the hype among young people: “Maybe it’s because I was the president of his childhood…” So why not try to become its president in 2027?
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