Paris (AFP)
"Slap", "boomerang effect" for the majority ...: the leaders of LR stepped up to the plate Wednesday to assert the solidity of the right after the commitment made Tuesday to postpone any agreement with LREM for regional Paca.
"The Prime Minister had come forward by announcing that there was an agreement between Les Républicains and La République en Marche" en Paca but "he received a slap which, in my opinion, had resonances until the Élysée, "party chairman Christian Jacob told RTL.
Tuesday, LR has, at the end of a day of stormy meetings, decided to return its support to Renaud Muselier, in exchange for the promise that there would be "no agreement of any level whatsoever with La République en Marche ".
"There will be the presence of no minister, no parliamentarian" LREM, hammered Mr. Jacob, who denounced the "dark little shenanigans" of the Prime Minister.
Jean Castex "wanted to test these regions on political recomposition" but "this is not the order of the day, it will not be", he added.
Vilifying the "nuisance capacity" of LREM "unable to carry a regional project under (his) colors", he also criticized the RN candidate in Paca Thierry Mariani (an ex-LR) who "has as many convictions as a young dog in front of a bag of kibbles ".
LREM "bears a great responsibility" in the "risk of victory for Mr. Mariani", for his part estimated the boss of deputies LR Damien Abad on Sud Radio.
"We want to win under our colors, we do not need En Marche which represents almost nothing in the territories. Yesterday they swallowed their hat and that's good," added Mr. Abad for whom the leaders LREM "wanted to play sorcerer's apprentice, they had a boomerang effect".
The secretary general of LR Aurélien Pradié condemned him the "absolute cynicism" of Emmanuel Macron who wants "to erase everything between him and Marine Le Pen".
"He plays with fire and knows it," he said on Radio Classique.
"Renaud Muselier was fooled in this story" but "he made a firm commitment, after realizing that this issue was beyond him" since "it was also about the future of our political family", he added.
© 2021 AFP