Paris (AFP)
The president (ex-LR) of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand, declared presidential candidate, assured Friday that if he lost in the regional in June, "it will be the end of (his) political life".
"It is a question of legitimacy" because "if six years later (the election at the head of the region, editor's note) I do not have the confidence" of the voters of Hauts-de-France, "I cannot go and seek the confidence of 67 million French people, "he explained on franceinfo.
"Things are very clear: if I lose, it will be the end of my political life", added the one who presents himself as a candidate "free, independent" of the parties, even if he keeps "good relations" with his former party The Republicans.
Xavier Bertrand had taken his potential right-wing rivals by surprise on March 25 by formalizing his candidacy for the presidential election, while reiterating his refusal to go through a primary.
"My primary, it will be the regional ballot of Hauts-de-France," he said last August in Corse-Matin, in the interview where he took his first step towards a candidacy.
Unrolling the main axes of the program exposed in an interview with Le Point last week, Mr. Bertrand said he wanted to offer the French "a real gathering" and "another way", around the "reestablishment of authority, of work value. and a change of society "through the" territories ".
If he is elected, he will submit to the French by referendum "in the autumn" of 2022 an amendment to the Constitution allowing the creation of a 50-year security sentence for the perpetrators of terrorist acts.
On the issue of migration, he pleaded for a policy of "quotas according to the trades you need" and the "end of laxity".
He also advocated "mobilizing companies" on the issue of working time, with the idea that "if you work more you must necessarily earn more".
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