Aurélien Pradié and Damien Abad, responsible for LR.

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Jacques Witt / SIPA

  • At first glance, ecology is not the favorite theme of the right, traditionally more carried by sovereign subjects.

  • Since the municipal elections, The Republicans are multiplying initiatives to propose a "right-wing ecology".

  • This ecological change also has an electoral aim.

“We want to show that there is a right-wing ecology.

The Republicans find Jean-Louis Borloo Thursday morning at the National Assembly.

Nicolas Sarkozy's former Minister of Ecology will open the LR parliamentarians' seminar with an environmental theme.

One way to show that the party has ambitions on the subject.

“The right must take up the ecological question, propose a different model of Europe Ecology-The Greens.

A pragmatic, positive, local ecology.

It's a challenge for us, and long-term work, ”explains Ain deputy Damien Abad, president of the LR group in the Assembly.

An electoral interest for LR

At first glance, ecology is not the favorite theme of the right, traditionally more carried by sovereign subjects.

But the Republicans have recently shown an interest in environmental issues, in the wake of municipal elections.

The party is increasing its initiatives: forums on agriculture and food, “ecology mornings” with experts, general public consultations, and even a “Tour de France for the environment” launched by the number 3 by LR Aurélien Pradié, who is to meet, for a year, elected officials, agricultural stakeholders and associations.

Driven from several large cities by environmentalists in the last municipal elections, the right also finds electoral interest there.

Because all the parties, up to the National Rally and its localism, are now working on this theme.

“We cannot miss this issue.

There is a part of our electorate who no longer votes on the right because we do not cover these questions enough, ”notes Damien Abad, who launched in mid-September an“ environment task force ”responsible for working on energy and mobility. or even green taxation.

A poll ordered by LR from Ifop confirms: 67% of French people (and 52% of right-wing supporters) believe that "today, no right-wing party embodies ecology".

To defend itself, the party summons the past.

And quotes Georges Pompidou, who launched the first ministry of the environment, Jacques Chirac and his famous “Our house is burning and we are looking elsewhere”, or even the “Grenelle de l'environnement” of Nicolas Sarkozy, to show that the right does not there is nothing to be ashamed of on the green issue.

Proposals at the local level

But beyond the sleeve effects, the party is still unclear on the proposed model.

“Above all, we must not oppose ecology and purchasing power.

Ecology should not be elitist, punitive, against the French.

But based on an incentive model, which rewards virtuous behavior, which encourages ecological transition for companies, which offers short circuits ”, indicates Damien Abad.

Guillaume Peltier also mentioned in the spring a vast relocation plan and a “Marshall plan” for rural areas, with a reduction in VAT on short circuits.

The first concrete measures are expected in the fall.

It is at the local level that the moult is most marked.

In Pays-de-la-Loire, for example, the region led by LR has just created a group of experts to assess the impact of global warming.

In the last municipal elections, the LR candidates have, like many, their program green.

The LR mayor of Reims Arnaud Robinet even wrote this summer to around forty elected officials from the largest cities on the right and in the center "to create a network of green cities".

"The idea is to be able to share our experiences and show that ecology is already done on a daily basis in our territories, through revegetation, thermal insulation, the development of organic and local in our canteens ...", develops- he does.

“All responded favorably.

Ecology is on the right what security is on the left, ideological markers.

But we notice, in both cases moreover, an evolution, ”he said.

The subject is not always easy to defend within the right.

Not so long ago, in 2016, the former minister Luc Châtel estimated that the Republicans should be "the party of shale gas, GMOs, biotechs".

“There are still pockets of resistance, but the younger generation has a more heightened awareness of the environmental cause,” replied Damien Abad.

- At the end of 2018, LR deputies denounced in a forum the "consequences" of pesticides on bees -


Yesterday, 14 of them voted for the return of # neonicotinoids # coherencehttps: //t.co/KIOVmkfVSu pic.twitter. com / Pl8jLRzbsR

- Gaël Lombart (@GaelLombart) October 7, 2020

MEP David Cormand sees it as a sign of a "cultural victory": "We fought for forty years for ecology to be the political subject, it's done", greets the MEP and former boss of ecologists David Cormand.

“Now we are entering the second phase.

What ecology and, above all, what model of society?

However, the right remains today in a conservative vision of ecology since it does not call into question the economic model as a whole ”.

No one doubts it anymore, ecology will be at the heart of the next electoral elections.

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  • The Republicans

  • Environment

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  • ecology