Baroin / Bertrand: the match has started

Audio 02:33

By: Anne Soetemondt Follow

Since the arrival at the head of the Republicans of Christian Jacob, things have been a little better on rue de Vaugirard. The party is also waiting greedily for the results of the municipal elections, convinced that it can save the furniture by keeping Marseille, and perhaps by creating a surprise in Paris with the dynamic Rachida Dati. A glimmer of hope, but beware, right, divisions are never far away. A hidden war broke out a few weeks ago.

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In the crosshairs: the presidential. On both sides of the ring: François Baroin and Xavier Bertrand. Illustration of this beginning of boxing fight with the municipal campaign in Paris. In a few days, the candidate invested by the Republicans party received the support of the two men. It is all the more symbolic that Rachida Dati is " making possible what was still impossible a few months ago " deciphers a party executive who enjoys reading the latest polls.

Thursday February 27, Xavier Bertrand - the man who left the party with a bang because of the election of Laurent Wauquiez - who appears with the candidate Gare du Nord in Paris. " If people want it to change in Paris, they understand one thing : it's Dati, " he says to the cameras present to capture the moment. Rachida Dati and Xavier Bertrand belonged to the same government under the Sarkozy presidency. A communication operation that sounds like a response to the words of François Baroin who, on Tuesday, also displayed himself with the former Keeper of the Seals by throwing a spade, could not be more clear to the ambitious Xavier Bertrand: " The Times have been difficult for us. We haven't gone far from the disaster. Some spirits are gone. It’s their choice. We are not looking in the rear view mirror. It is their responsibility. "

A match that actually started a few weeks ago. This is because according to some LR elected officials, the return of François Baroin to party authorities (thanks to the election of his friend Christian Jacob ) has upset the calendar of the president of the Hauts-de-France region. For two years, Xavier Bertrand had deployed a clear strategy: the field, the field, the field and above all, no national voice. Turn a few weeks ago. The former minister multiplies all of a sudden the gestures towards his former party, then, a few days later, video of support for the deputies LR in their fight against the pension reform of Emmanuel Macron. All orchestrated with a great media plan.

A way of not leaving too much space for a François Baroin who could well become the candidate of the right in 2022. Many wondered about the desire of the protégé of Jacques Chirac to return to the center of the game. in the Paris campaign and by announcing the publication of a small book on secularism, François Baroin would he start to advance his pawns? Maybe…

► Read also : 2020: does the right Jacob have a future?

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• French politics
• 2020 municipal elections

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Municipal in Paris: Rachida Dati, LR candidate, continues to climb