The media offensive is launched.
Xavier Bertrand assumed, Saturday September 19 in Le Parisien and Sunday September 20 on Europe 1, his ambition to be a presidential candidate in 2022, sending signals to his political family and distributing the pikes to Emmanuel Macron.
Without ever explicitly and solemnly declaring his candidacy, the president of Hauts-de-France admitted, Sunday morning on Europe 1, in response to questions from journalists, that he did not intend "to hide behind [his] little finger" .
"Let's not play around with words. You also invite me because you know my determination to be a candidate. So I will not hide behind my little finger" @xavierbertrand specifies his ambitions for the presidential election of 2022 # LeGrandRDV # Europe1 pic.twitter.com/yq05JDFRR1
- Europe 1 🎧🌍📻 (@ Europe1) September 20, 2020
Xavier Bertrand had already clearly displayed his ambition the day before, in an interview published Saturday evening on the Parisian website.
"I am more determined than ever, he said. I am the representative of a social right, popular, capable of bringing together, and which will always refuse the slightest compromise with the extreme right."
"I am convinced that Emmanuel Macron is not the one who will succeed in reconciling the French, nor the one who will protect the country", he also hammered in Le Parisien, estimating that the president is "not at the ease on sovereign matters: security, justice, defense or respect for secularism ".
"If Emmanuel Macron were on the right, he would have made the safety of the French a priority, he would also have fought effectively against illegal immigration, he continued. The president is a great naive who did not take the measure of these problems. "
"A five-year period of turmoil, a five-year period of crises"
The former minister, who left Les RĂ©publicains (LR) in 2017, assured Sunday that he would not return, but that this party remained his "political family".
He has multiplied the mentions of elected LR, including Rachida Dati, Guillaume Peltier or Éric Ciotti.
He also indicated that he would soon see former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who remains a tutelary figure among the Republicans.
The president of the Hauts-de-France region has stood as a “popular” candidate against an outgoing “liberal Anglo-Saxon” president.
The mandate of Emmanuel Macron is according to him "a five-year period of turmoil, a five-year period of crises. The French want appeasement and regain this confidence. They simply want to be reconciled."
Xavier Bertrand also described Sunday the regional elections of March 2021, during which he will aim for his re-election at the head of Hauts-de-France, as his "meeting of confidence".
"If I win this election," he explained, "then I will have succeeded in winning the confidence of the popular electorate."
Regarding the closure of the Bridgestone plant in BĂ©thune, in Pas-de-Calais, and the relocation of its activity, the president of the Hauts-de-France region asked the State to invest to save the factory and jobs.
Xavier Bertrand cited as an example the showdown between the Italian state and the Japanese tire manufacturer in 2013, after which Rome had agreed to finance investments to save a Bari factory which was to be relocated.
"The factory has remained open and 60% of jobs have been saved," said the former LR manager on Europe 1, for whom the stimulus plans announced at national and regional level should make it possible to make the necessary investments.
With AFP and Reuters
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