Smiles in front of the cameras before a common lunch and a walkabout. Thursday, at the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the landing of Provence, Emmanuel Macron and Nicolas Sarkozy once again ostensibly displayed their complicity. But while LR tries to establish itself as the main opposition force to the government, the benevolence of the former head of state and icon of the militants to the current tenant of the Elysee makes the right cringe. Invited Friday of Europe 1, the senator of Hauts-de-Seine Roger Karoutchi assures him nevertheless: "nobody imagines Nicolas Sarkozy to have become macroniste".
"Both seek to seduce each other"
"Both seek to seduce the other," said the vice president of the Republican nomination committee, which defends the presence of Nicolas Sarkozy at the ceremonies on Thursday. "It's quite normal, in ceremonies like the 14th of July, the 15th of August or the landing, that the current president and the old leaders are here."
"Nobody imagines Nicolas Sarkozy to become a Macronist Nicolas Sarkozy is at first Sarkozyist and first himself," he warned. But, he continues, "in a country that is as problematic as ours, that current leaders consult people who have led the country seems to me quite normal." "That we have normal relations seems to me," continues Roger Karoutchi, while recalling the differences between the two men on topics as diverse as security, immigration, or taxation. For the senator, the party LR should be inspired by the example of its former leader, to "show that we are not sectarian".
"The right must find a leader"
While Nicolas Sarkozy is still leading the barometers of popularity on the right, Roger Karoutchi rejects the idea of a return of the former President of the Republic. But, he asks, "we are in 2021. What will happen in 2021 and 2022, if Emmanuel Macron fails, if there is a real risk for the country, if there is has a global crisis? "
Meanwhile, the party weakened by its defeat in the European elections must continue to live without him. And after the departure of Laurent Wauquiez, the reconstruction of LR first passes by the election of a new president. A job run by three men: Christian Jacob, Julien Aubert and Guillaume Larrivé. "It is necessary that the right finds a leader and a candidate able to gather in the first round of the presidential", calls Roger Karoutchi, before calling the members to mobilize for the internal ballot.