There are less than ten minutes left until the kick-off of France-Belgium and Heure Sup’ is still half empty. It is not for lack of effort from the owners: Sandra and Marco, French of Portuguese origin with roots in Leiria, do everything they can to motivate customers to join in and support the French team. They are dressed to the nines with the the Blues, They have flags everywhere and smile at any customer who comes to watch the match. Their spirits, on this first day after the legislative elections, do not seem high.

“I have hope. I’m optimistic,” says Léo, a 31-year-old customer who is there to watch the game while waiting for his friends, both for the football match against the Belgians and for the results of the second round next Sunday. We are in district 15What can you call it? “heart of macronism” in Paris, which belongs to the 13th electoral district of the capital.

The trend on Sunday was no different here: Macronist candidate David Amiel came in first with almost 40% of the vote, but failed to avoid a run-off, against the Popular Front candidate, Aminata Niakaté, of the Greens. These triangulations are out of the question: even though the National Union candidate obtained 14% of the vote (above the required minimum of 12.5%), taking into account the number of voters who voted, it was not enough to go ahead in the second round. And Macronism must continue undaunted by the election of one more deputy in this Saint Lambert district.

As Mbappé shakes hands with Belgians, Macron’s uncompromising defence and blame for far-right growth on the left

Léo, whose suit and iPhone betray his work in the financial sector, tells the Observer that the result is not surprising: “It is always like this: the east of Paris votes for the left, the west more for the right”resume. He defends the idea that, in the case of triangulations, the important thing must be to “do the right thing”: to stop the National Union.

But, like the president, he admits to having reservations about the positions of some of the candidates of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise, particularly on foreign policy issues such as the war in Ukraine. “It is difficult to decide between the UN and the IF. But I would say that the UN is the worst solution”he concludes. Fortunately, he adds, he won’t have to make that decision: he lives in 6th district where the second round of voting will be between a socialist, a candidate from Macron’s Renaissance Party and a dissident from the party.

“Paris is a bubble“Like New York or London,” admits Léo, while the starting eleven is shown on the various screens of the Heure Sup’ bar. The rest of the country is another story that explains the victory of the National Union on Sunday, he adds. And this convinced Macronist does not hesitate to place some blame on the left: “They have a great responsibility. They lost their electorate, those who vote for Bardella are many of their former voters.”

Macron cannot be criticised, despite the disastrous result of the previous day, in which the Renaissance lost dozens of seats. “There is something very French here,” says the young man, before taking a sip of beer in front of him.At first, a president is always very popular.. Then he loses his popularity. That was the case with Sarkozy, with Hollande, and now with Macron. We always have the impulse to want to cut off the King’s head.”

The prospects for the match against Belgium, which will be played in five minutes, are more encouraging than those for the future of the country, he says: either there will be a difficult coexistence between Macron and Bardella: “we could have a dictatorial or at least anti-democratic prime minister,” or a majority that no one knows exactly what it will be in the National Assembly. But the expectations for the meeting with the “Red Devils” They are not tall either“It will be difficult,” he admits. But, once again, despite the “discouragement” and “shock” he says he feels, he remains “optimistic.”

“Marchones, marchers”, but only for football, and when the team is winning

On TV, commentators talk about a game between “two best friends, facing each other, “the blues and the red devils”. A very different situation to that of the two Frenchmen who are facing each other in this campaign, as the young businessman had pointed out: urban centres against Provence from the country.

Once the Belgian anthem is sung, it’s time for La Marseillaise, but the spectators (perhaps still stunned by the elections) don’t seem enthusiastic. Sandra and Marco, the owners of the space, organize the party alone. She A bell strategically hidden behind a French flag rings.behind the counter, to let you know it’s time to sing the anthem. Marco sings at the top of his lungs. “Allah, child of the fatherland! The day of glory has arrived!” But No one stands up or puts their hand on their chestNot even the liveliest groups: Léo’s, who was joined by four friends, or the group of three older men who took their place on the first bench, that is, on the sofa closest to the best screen, with a view. premium.

The game starts off hotly and the crowd is not showing much emotion. But as Mbappé, Griezmann and Co. miss out on goal-scoring opportunities, tongues start to loosen, helped by rounds of beer. “Damn!“A middle-aged customer who is watching the match alone shouts loudly when Rabiot receives a yellow card.unfairly from his point of view. The “oooohs,” “uuuhs” and “aaahs” are repeated in the face of missed shots, threats from opponents and successful defenses.

Coach Didier Deschamps’ tactics are being discussed in as much detail as triangulation strategies were discussed last night.

— “It’s not going to happen with just two forwards…”, Marco tells the client who made the mistake.
— “You have Griezmann…”, the Frenchman replies.
— “Griezmann is not a striker,” says Marco.

When the goal finally arrives, towards the end of the match (but avoiding extra time), the bar owners give it their all. The bell rings again and they explode. confetti in the colours of the national flag. The crowd is already loose, far from the initial silence and cheering loudly. Just ten more minutes to wait and France is in the quarter-finals, where (it was not yet known, but at Heure Sup’ it was already suspected) it would face Portugal and, for a while, politics is forgotten.

At 89 minutes, Marco takes the microphone and sings the national anthem again. This time the chorus forms quickly. “Arms, citizens! “Form your battalions!” appeals. “Go! Go!satisfied customers respondfilling the final minutes of the match. The initial discouragement has gone and all’s well that ends well. At least in the world of football.

The “two Frances” that could be “on the brink of civil war”

But politics is not all that simple. This is the opinion of Laurent, an environmental consultant, who takes the first opportunity after the end of the match to talk about the subject of the previous elections. “Macron is the worst. Calling these elections was madness, I don’t see how we can go back.”he tells the Observer. He became a voter for the president’s initial party, En Marche!. When it was created, he volunteered and made his knowledge in the area of ​​climate change available to the party, but he says he never received a response: “They are all shit”he resumes, placing the glass firmly on the table.

The disappointment is heightened by the fact that Laurence does not live in the Paris “bubble” and claims to be more aware of the threat posed by the UN than the other defendants at the summit. 15th. Despite working there, Laurent has one foot in the “two Frances”. He is from Picardya more rural suburb in the north of Paris, and commutes to the capital twice a week as he works in a hybrid capacity. “In my area, four constituencies elected deputies from the National Union for the first time”account. “They here in Paris don’t know…”

It’s not that the entrepreneur agrees with the result. In fact, it’s almost persona non grata in her homeland, even though the woman was the local mayor. On the door she hung an EU flag and a sign reading “There are no foreigners on this planet”, which she proudly shows to the Observer, via photographs taken with her iPhone.

“I voted for the Popular Front, but I could have voted for the Renascença candidate,” he admits. “My objective was only one: make a useful vote, vote for the candidate who had the best chance of defeating the National Union“He hopes that others will do the same in this second round, given the various “triangulations” that will occur. And he dismisses the problems raised by Macron and others regarding Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his France insoumise. “Mélenchon is a madman who nobody takes seriously. He will never be Prime Minister.”assures.

He has little to say about the match: France won, he is happy, but this middle-aged man feels consumed by politics and not even football serves as a distraction, even if it is temporary. “This is going to be a disgrace,” he predicts. “We will be on the brink of a civil war. And I am ready to fight,” he guarantees.

Léo, more relaxed after his victory, intends to do more of an autopsy of the party than of the first round of the legislature. “We played badly, your team is better”He shakes his head as he recalls the Euro 2016 final and lets out all the optimism he showed at the start of the match.

But he looks around and sighs, saying that Paris is a wonderful city: “It’s Europe, that’s all. Who doesn’t want something like this? I don’t understand the National Union,” he says. “Even these players, look at them: they are not ‘purely French’ for some UN voters, but today they were supported. Does this make any sense?”he asks. The fact that star Mbappé has commented on the elections is, for Léo, an act of courage. But he takes the opportunity to underline that the striker spoke of “extremists on the threshold of power”, without specifying Le Pen’s party, as if he wanted to see in these statements an implicit support for the centre represented by Macronism.

The young high-finance businessman shakes his head to try to dispel the negative thoughts of those who are beginning to prepare for a difficult coexistence between Emmanuel Macron and a possible Prime Minister, Jordan Bardella, or, who knows, a figure from La France Insoumise. And he prefers to return to the game of the Blues and comment a little more on how, despite being effective, the French team is disappointing them in this Euro Cup. “Football has to distract us, right?”he comments, with a glass in his hand and with the blazer less composed. At least before the second round on Sunday, there will still be the match against Portugal on Friday, to forget a little more that France is not just “the Paris bubble”. And then? “We will have to reach agreements. We will see what they are.”