Macron posts video saying he is ‘doing well’ despite Covid diagnosis

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he was doing well after testing positive for Covid-19 but acknowledged that he had to slow down his activities due to ongoing symptoms.

Published: 18 December 2020 17:27 CET

Macron posts video saying he is 'doing well' despite Covid diagnosis

French president Emmanuel Macron was diagnosed with Covid-19 on Thursday. Photo: AFP

“I am doing well. I have the same symptoms as yesterday: tiredness, headaches, dry cough. Like hundreds of thousands of others of you,” Macron said in a video message posted on his Twitter account that he appeared to have recorded himself with a phone.

Here's Covid-patient Emmanuel Macron – in slightly less grand surroundings than his usual broadcasts – reassuring us that he's fine and begging everyone to continue observing covid protocols despite the “moment of negligence” that lead to him catching the virus https://t.co/XjgNsPhZn2

— Emma Pearson (@LocalFR_Emma) December 18, 2020

“My activity is a little slowed down due to the virus. But I am continuing to take care of the priority issues like the epidemic or, for example, Brexit,” he said.

“I have a message for all of you. Continue to take care of yourselves. The virus can hit anyone. I was well protected and very careful,” he said in his message.

“Despite everything, I got the virus. Perhaps it was a moment of carelessness but also maybe bad luck,” he said.

He added that he was posting the video to ensure total transparency over his health.

France has historically been rather secretive over the health of its presidents, with both François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac experiencing major health problems while in office which went unreported.

Macron moved to the presidential residence La Lanterne in Versailles on Thursday evening. His wife Brigitte, who has tested negative, will remain in self-isolation at the Elysée.

It is not clear where Macron contracted the virus although presidential sources have said he may have picked it up while attending an EU summit in Brussels late last week where leaders had 20 hours of non-stop negotiation.

Adding to concern over possible infections at the summit, Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic said Friday he had tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the EU Council.

“Today, I am one of you,” Matovic, 47, wrote on his Facebook page, attaching a screenshot of a text message with his test results.

The president has been the subject of some criticism in France after his schedule revealed that he had been having regular lunches and dinners with fellow politicians, including a dinner at the Elysée which exceeded the recommended maximum number of six people. Officials say that the table was large enough to ensure appropriate social distancing.

Dozens of people who have come into contact with Macron in recent days are now self-isolating, including five prime ministers and an EU leader.

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The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) is currently far ahead in opinion polls for the June 9th elections in France, with Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party in a battle for second place with the Socialists.

The debate between Attal, 35, and Bardella, 28, who leads the RN’s list in the EU elections, will be the first head-to-head clash between the two leading figures in a new French political generation.

Polls have been making increasingly uncomfortable reading for Macron, who has had to fly to the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia to try to calm the violent unrest there.

Coming third would be a disaster for the president, who portrays himself as a champion of European democracy and bulwark against the far right.

The head of Macron’s party list for the elections, the little known Valérie Heyer, has failed to make an impact and was widely seen as losing a debate with Bardella earlier this month.

According to a Toluna-Harris Interactive study for French media, the presidential camp is stuck at just 15 percent of the vote and in a dogfight for second place with the Socialists – who are on 14.5 percent – led by former commentator Raphael Glucksmann.

The RN, by contrast, is soaring ahead on 31.5 percent.

The RN’s figurehead Marine Le Pen, who has waged three unsuccessful presidential campaigns, has sought to bring the RN into the political mainstream as she eyes another tilt at the presidency in 2027.

“There is a very clear signal that must be sent to Emmanuel Macron. He must suffer the worst possible defeat to bring him back to earth,” Le Pen told CNews and Europe 1 this week.

Bardella, who took over the party leadership from his mentor, is key to Le Pen’s strategy, a gifted communicator of immigrant origin with an expanding following on TikTok.

Attal, also one of the best debaters in Macron’s government, is expected to seek to portray Bardella as an extremist, complacent over the threat posed by Russia and who has little interest in Europe.

Apparently aware of the danger, Bardella on Tuesday said the RN will no longer sit in the EU parliament with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) faction, indicating it had lost patience with the controversies surrounding its German allies.

The head of the AfD’s list in the polls, Maximilian Krah, had said in a weekend interview that someone who had been a member of the SS in Nazi Germany was “not automatically a criminal”.

Bardella is “putting his credibility and the future of his movement on the line in the debate”, said the Le Monde daily, adding that a strong performance could see some RN supporters regard him as a stronger candidate in 2027 than Le Pen.

You can find a more detailed profile of Attal HERE and a look at Bardella HERE