REPORTAGE
It's back to school time for political parties. On the right, Saturday, Bruno Retailleau brings together the activists Les Républicains (LR) de l'Ouest in La Baule, in Loire-Atlantique, while Valérie Pécresse, ex-LR, and the activists of his Free movement! Essonne. With less than two years of the 2022 presidential election, the French right seems scattered.
Gérard Larcher as a hyphen to a scattered right
For The Republicans, this plural re-entry is however not the sign of an explosion but on the contrary the expression of a certain vitality. "We are not divided. On the contrary, we are very numerous. We have elected representatives all over the territory who organize events to unite", affirms Rachida Dati. The unit in dispersed mode, this is the concept developed by the mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris on Saturday afternoon in La Baule.
For this return to Loire-Atlantique, finally, even the absent are there like Nadine Morano who intervenes by phone. If Gérard Larcher came well, he also recorded messages for the others. So here it is in hyphen of a straight line whose pieces must be glued together. "Me, the puzzle I want to assemble it", launches the president of the Senate.
>> READ ALSO - Presidential 2022: but what will François Baroin do?
And once the puzzle has been reconstructed, it remains to designate who will present it to the French in 2022. The primary is the other concept, but it divides. Some, still marked by the fiasco of 2016, are resolutely against. Others are thinking about it seriously like Xavier Bertrand and now Bruno Retailleau. "I will be a candidate if my ideas are not represented and if the selection process is broad enough", declares the Vendée senator. A primary which therefore goes beyond the simple family of Republicans.
Valérie Pécresse would like to appear as a recourse to Macron
At the same time, Saturday, at the start of her Free! Movement, Valérie Pécresse appears solo ... but not really alone. The former LR brought together nearly 2,000 activists in Mennecy, in Essonne. The president of the Île-de-France region is in a rallying position. But she is not yet a presidential candidate, leaving Xavier Bertrand and Bruno Retailleau to launch into the race. On stage, she is content with allusions to 2022.
>> Find Europe evening weekend in podcast and in replay here
Valérie Pécresse rather tries to assert her record in the Île-de-France region. Its positioning is to praise the economy, the regal. She calls for "an electric shock of authority". On stage, she also castigates the president's action, without ever citing him. She accuses Emmanuel Macron of having let go of the regal, of embarking on spending on Covid-19 which will only create debt.
Valérie Pécresse would like to appear in the right-wing electorate as an appeal to Macron, a figure to unite. His entourage is counting on a primary right after the regional ones. For the moment, nobody folds the match, affirms his entourage, that is why Valérie Pécresse believes in his chances.