The candidate of La République en Marche (LREM) in the municipal elections of Paris, Agnès Buzyn, and her competitor, ex-LREM, Cédric Villani did not reach an agreement to merge their lists from the first round, despite numerous negotiations until 'in the middle of the night, according to concordant sources consulted on Friday. The call made by Agnès Buzyn to Cédric Villani Monday and reiterated Thursday, before a joint lunch the same day, will have done nothing: the mathematician haloed with the Fields medal has finally refused to join the former minister in the first round of Health. However, until the last minute, LREM executives believed in it, to the point of stopping the filing of certain lists while waiting to see if Cédric Villani and his team accepted the proposal.
Ecological commitments deemed insufficient by the Villani camp
"The only requirement of Cédric Villani to work with Mrs. Buzyn was that she resume her program on the ecological part, and on the enlargement of Paris," reported a relative of the candidate. If Agnes Buzyn, who must unveil her program on Sunday, intends to focus on ecology, and announce a measure dear to Cédric Villani on the use of artificial intelligence to smooth traffic, in particular, the mathematician's team did not find this commitment sufficient.
"There will be zero mergers before the first round," added Baptiste Fournier, Cédric Villani's campaign director. "At a meeting held on Thursday evening until late at night, it was agreed by everyone that we had to continue. We want to highlight our project and the uniqueness of the candidate from civil society , who is not a classic candidate in terms of his career and who has affirmed and reaffirmed that he will go to the first round, "noted a member of the team.
Administrative and financial constraints
"Taking into account the deadlines set," with a deadline for depositing the lists fixed at February 27 at 6 p.m., "administratively, financially [with a campaign spending limit set at 2.5 million euros, editor's note] and politically" , it seemed impossible for Cédric Villani's camp to merge before the first round, it is reported.
"Cédric Villani is in the hands of unsavory people", regretted a member of LREM in an allusion to members of his team "who have a revenge to take, frustrated to have been excluded from the lists in the legislative elections in 2017, to the Europeans , or placed in an ineligible position ".