Paris (AFP)
One year before the presidential election, Hauts-de-France president Xavier Bertrand, candidate for 2022, and Christian Jacob, the boss of his former party Les Républicains, met Thursday morning to talk about the region and the calendar.
This meeting, the first since September, took place at the headquarters of the Republicans in a "cordial" atmosphere, assured AFP Mr. Jacob, specifying that "in the meantime we phoned, we are not not breaking relationships ".
"I wanted to see Christian (...) to remind him of my total determination and that I would not go through the primaries", for his part told AFP Mr. Bertrand, specifying that the meeting "went very well ".
Xavier Bertrand formalized his candidacy for the 2022 presidential election in an interview at the end of March, catching his potential rivals on the right by surprise, before the regional scheduled for June.
"He made a choice which is his, I told him that I respected this choice, that it was not mine", assured the president of the Republicans according to which "the operation truth will be done in the fall , we will see if we have a candidate who emerges naturally ".
"It's up to me to create this dynamic, I am fully aware of it," said Mr. Bertrand, who left LR in 2017.
Some LR officials, such as the boss of deputies Damien Abad or the number 2 of the party Guillaume Peltier, have not hidden their benevolence lately for Mr. Bertrand, currently the best placed in the polls among the potential candidates of the right for the presidential election.
According to an Elabe poll published Thursday, Mr. Bertrand had a positive image at the beginning of April with 25% of voters (-3 points over one month).
On the right, his image jumped by 7 points (to 65%), and took 5 points among RN voters.
On the other hand, he lost 10 points among LREM and Modem voters, and 1 point on the left.
Mr. Jacob, whose absolute preference "goes to François Baroin", however reiterated Thursday "that we are not in the calendar, and therefore not in the context of the presidential election".
The subject of the primary has "not more than that" been on the agenda because "one like the other we are not great advocates of the tie-breaker, if a candidate is naturally imposed he does not 'There is no need for a tie-breaker, "added Mr. Jacob, who remains" convinced that the primary generates more division than unity ".
"So if we can avoid it, it is better," he added.
On the regional the former Minister of Health, who foresees "inevitably a triangular in the second round" in Hauts-de-France, was also convinced of a "decline of the RN thanks to our action".
"I will fully support him for Hauts-de-France," said Mr. Jacob.
© 2021 AFP