"My ambition is that we win." It is a dramatic change in which La République en Marche would have gone well. The former mayor of Strasbourg and former minister of the government of Lionel Jospin Catherine Trautmann, 69, takes this Wednesday the head of the socialist list for the municipal election of March in the big Alsatian city, almost 32 years after his first election as mayor of the City.
"Not in the habit of hiding behind a sheet"
"I fully commit. You will be able to say here ... Catherine is back. Good. I am neither a ghost nor a ghost. I am very much alive and I am not used to hiding behind a sheet, "warns the candidate who takes the place of a candidate who did not seem able to exceed the 10% mark.
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The "name" Trautmann will not necessarily allow the Socialist Party to get ahead of environmentalists, very prominent in Strasbourg at the moment. But it could strengthen the left bloc made up of the Greens and the PS in the second round and thus complicate the task of La République en Marche. The party has so far considered itself in a good position to win this city.
"I welcome all new applicants with courtesy"
"I welcome all new candidates with courtesy," promises Alain Fontanel, the LREM candidate, despite everything. "She was mayor of Strasbourg in 1989. I think it is the end of a political cycle this election, of a political generation that stops. For my part I remain focused on my campaign with my running mate."