She pleads the lack of attention, goes up to the crenel, apologizes ... Tuesday, Nathalie Loiseau, the head of list LREM in the European elections, took the oars out of the storm caused by the revelation of his presence on a list from the extreme right at Sciences Po in 1984, unveiled Monday by Mediapart. That year, she appeared for elections in the big Parisian school on the list "joint committee" Union of students right (UED), union born on the ashes of the GUD, Union Defense Group, student union of extreme right today dissolves.
This revelation did not fail to trigger a flood of criticism from some members of the opposition against the former Minister for European Affairs who focused her campaign on the fight against populism. But what exactly does the article in Médiapart say? How did Nathalie Loiseau react? And the opposition? Europe 1 you summarize this case.
What did Médiapart reveal?
In her article published on Monday, we discover that during a student election of Sciences-Po, in 1984, Nathalie Loiseau, who still bears her maiden name, Nathalie Ducoulombier, presented herself under the label UED, a union from the extreme right. She is then in the fourth year of the preparatory ENA, preparing for the competition of the National School of Administration.
In support, the pure player unveils a document, the "joint committee" of the Union of Right Students (UED), preserved in the official archives of Sciences-Po Paris. A listing considered initially as a fake by the teams of the head of LREM list in the European elections, before they recognize its authenticity.
How did Nathalie Loiseau defend herself?
Contacted Monday by Mediapart, the former minister, assured to have "completely forgotten this episode". She admitted to having "said yes" when she was "approached to participate in a list that wanted to accentuate pluralism at Sciences Po, then almost nonexistent, and which was looking for women". "If those who were on the list had an extremist agenda, I did not go to them, I did not see it, and if that's the case it's a mistake." If I had identified GUD members on this list, obviously that I would not have accepted to appear there, "she then defended herself.
But on Tuesday morning, the former minister changes her tone. In a post published on her personal Facebook page and relayed by Aurore Bergé, the spokesperson of LREM on Twitter, she defends herself with vigor: "Mediapart is on the attack (...) Huge scoop, I come from the Yes, but now, the list also included students who have turned to the extreme right.It is possible, I believe the journalist who told me, she has been following the far right for years. , she wrote on Facebook before uploading Edwy Plenel, the founder of Mediapart. "Coming from the right, to have joined Emmanuel Macron and fight the extreme right." To have been Gaullist at 20 years rather than Maoist, support of the Palestinian terrorism and the Khmer Rouge, it is unbearable to Edwy Plenel, "she continues. allusion to the journalist's extreme left-wing past, before adding: "Nice climate of inquisition".
"Coming from the right, to have joined Emmanuel Macron and fight the far right, to have a chance to beat it on May 26th, it's unbearable to Plenel To have been Gaullist at 20 years rather than Maoist, it is unbearable to Plenel . " @NathalieLoiseau
Total support. # Renaissancepic.twitter.com / smFRusu3hl
Publicly, Nathalie Loiseau wants to be less virulent. She tries to reassure, concedes a mistake and tries to extinguish the fire. "So yes, 35 years ago I accepted as a friend to be on a list where there were right-wing people, Gaullists, but where there were also people of extreme right and that I did not know I should have checked it, I'm sorry, it's a mistake 35 years ago, "she said in a video released Tuesday afternoon on her official Facebook page. "But I have 35 years of life, personal commitment, politics to bring values of freedom, democracy, respect, tolerance, that's all my life, that's what makes today I am at the head of a list that has the chance to beat the extreme right, on May 26, to the Europeans ". And to add: "I do not want to leave dirty neither what I am nor what is the Renaissance list".
How did the opposition react?
The opposition did not fail to seize the ball in the air. "I will not blame him, I believe that everyone can have his route," said François-Xavier Bellamy, head of the list Republicans to Europeans, himself targets in recent months of criticism for his conservative profile and his past commitments. "But it requires a little humility and a little simplicity," he added, criticizing "this kind of rhetorical speech" Nathalie Loiseau consisting of opposing progressives and populists in the context of the campaign.
"We have the right to change our minds, but for a political formation that makes all his com around the idea that it is THE bulwark against the extreme right, it's funny ...", abounded PCF head Ian Brossat. Some, like Lydia Guirous, one of LR's spokespersons, also thought it unconvincing that Nathalie Loiseau, Sciences Po student in "Prep ENA", was not more interested in the political color of the list on which she was registered. "Nathalie, pay your cotis!", Joked on his side Jordan Bardella, head of the list National Rally, invited by the group Nice Matin. "This shows above all the imposture around these people".
For its part, the Republic on the march tried to save his captain with tweets. The general delegate of the party, Stanislas Guerini, recalled on Twitter that "there has never been the slightest ambiguity about his commitment" in "the fight against the extreme right". The leader of LREM deputies Gilles Le Gendre was astonished: "Nothing better to harm Nathalie Loiseau than a mistake of referral that goes back to 35 years? Reassuring, no?", Also launched the head of LREM deputies Gilles Le Gendre. Still, the presidential majority would have gone well in such a sequence. A minister is also annoyed with Europe 1: "Certainly she was 20 years old, but it does not care!"