Xavier Bertrand wants to stand out from Emmanuel Macron -
Stephane Lemouton -POOL / SIPA
Xavier Bertrand does not hide his ambitions to be a candidate for the 2022 presidential election.
The president of Hauts-de-France has yet to convince Les Républicains, whom he left at the end of 2017, to be the only candidate on the right.
Xavier Bertrand responded to
20 Minutes
, a few days after an Ifop poll which places him as the best candidate of the right for 2022.
On the right, it is the one "who is most hungry", says Rachida Dati of him.
"Does it have anything to do with my physique?"
"Laughs Xavier Bertrand, who does not hide his ambitions for the 2022 presidential election." Yes, I am totally committed.
I work a lot, I am lucky to have energy, to sleep little.
I never do things by halves, I am like that.
"
Entrenched in his territory since his departure from the Republicans at the end of 2017, Xavier Bertrand has never hidden this objective: a re-election at the head of Hauts-de-France in March 2020 as a stepping stone for the presidential election.
“I'm not going to hide behind my pinky finger.
We need a president for the French, able to understand them and protect them.
But I do not forget my priority: the shock of the health and social crisis for the inhabitants of the region, ”he said.
His entourage evokes "a turning point": "He has so far implemented a successful policy in Hauts-de-France and shown that he could hit Emmanuel Macron.
Now we have to bring together ”.
The provincial insurer against the Rothschild banker
To convince the right, which sometimes struggles to stand out from the policy of Emmanuel Macron and the executive, Xavier Bertrand (on) plays the differentiation with the head of state.
"It is the anti-Macron par excellence", supports Julien Dive, LR deputy for Aisne, close to the person concerned.
“He's not from the business community.
It embodies neither the urban, nor the finance.
On the contrary, it went through local mandates, in phase with the territories.
It is best placed to face the head of state.
"
For several months, Xavier Bertrand and his relatives have been trying to set up this duel between the small provincial insurer and the investment banker from Rothschild.
"Politics works on images", smiles Jean-Paul Mulot, representative of the Hauts-de-France region in the United Kingdom, who has known him for more than thirty years.
"But it's not com '.
The idea is not to redo the coup of the "normal president" of François Hollande.
Xavier, he's really like that, he's a very happy guy to live in Saint-Quentin.
He has often been looked down upon during his career because he does not fit into the norm of classical politics.
"
This strategy may be aimed at hiding the basic common ground between the two men.
Has the former mayor of Saint-Quentin not validated, for example, the reform of the labor code, supported the privatization of ADP or the extension of the PMA?
“If I were Macron-compatible, I would have followed up on requests, and I would have been in government for a long time,” he replies.
“Being anti-Macron is not a project, but we are very different.
I do not share the idea that if the first ones go well, it will help everyone.
Nor do I have his naivety on security issues or Islamism.
I have a conviction, we must seek to unite the French ”.
Xavier Bertrand facing Emmanuel Macron.
- FRANCOIS LO PRESTI / POOL / AFP
Exit Baroin, hello Bertrand?
A few months ago, within LR, we did not pay much attention to Xavier Bertrand's ambitions.
But with the passing of events, the idea of a candidacy of the former minister of Sarkozy has gained ground.
“He marked his attachment to his political family, he is firm on the regal, close to the territories.
It is a credible hypothesis that will have to be looked at in due time, ”assures Ain deputy Damien Abad.
The Northerner takes advantage of the planned package of François Baroin, the favorite of many executives.
“Baroin ticked a lot of boxes.
Obviously, now, the door opens a little more ”for Bertrand, confesses the president of the LR group to the Assembly.
The party is also aware that the former mayor of Saint-Quentin is for the moment the best placed on the right for the presidential election (at 16%, but far behind Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron), according to a Ifop-Fiducial survey, published this Sunday.
An encouraging survey for Xavier Bertrand, which also reveals the shortcomings of the right-wing candidates tested.
"I am of a social right, I managed to convince many workers and employees that I act for them at the regional level, but it must be done more at the national level", admits- he.
Sign of warming with the party: Xavier Bertrand had lunch last week face to face with the boss of his former party, Christian Jacob, a first for three years.
And the two men have agreed to meet again, as early as October.
"The bridges have never been cut", specifies the deputy LR from the North, Sébastien Huyghe, who warns: "Xavier Bertrand has a certain number of advantages, it is true.
But the road is still long and strewn with pitfalls ”.
Skip the regional stage and avoid the primary
If his rating has climbed, Xavier Bertrand is for the moment far from reaching a consensus within LR.
“To win, you need political space.
The Macron-compatible line with a dose of territory, it's a bit short, ”tackles a member of the political bureau, support of Bruno Retailleau.
The boss of senators LR, also candidate for 2022, has not given up on the organization of a primary.
The question will be decided after the regional ones.
“The activists are not just there to put up posters.
We cannot impose from above the candidacy of someone who left the ship in the middle of a storm [with his departure from LR in 2017].
Our survival is at stake, ”continues this close friend of the senator from Vendée.
But by then, Xavier Bertrand will first have to pass the regional stage.
Elected against Marine Le Pen thanks to the withdrawal of the left-wing candidate in 2015, he is now convinced that there will be a triangular in March.
And in case of defeat, he will abandon all political ambition: "If I do not succeed in convincing 6 million people, I will not try to convince 67 million.
"
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