Euphoria can be a poor adviser. On May 20, two days after Bruno Retailleau's sweeping victory to lead France's conservative party (Les Républicains, LR), government spokesperson Sophie Primas, a member of LR herself, said: "Macronism will probably come to an end in the coming months, with the end of President Macron's second five-year term," provoking outrage among the most zealous Macron supporters.

At the end of the following cabinet meeting, Primas, clearly embarrassed, requested a private conversation with the president. She didn't mean to say that Macronism was living out its final days, she told him, she simply wanted to remind people that its champion would not be able to run again in 2027, which would raise the question of "how to rebuild for the future." President Emmanuel Macron proved magnanimous: "We just have to be careful to maintain the balance within the government," which is made up of Macronists, centrists and conservatives.

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