Paris (AFP)
The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi announced Thursday that he was leaving Les Républicains in his turn and called, after the psychodrama around regional Paca, to "reconstitute a large political formation".
"I'm leaving LR", a decision "painful for the Gaullist that I am", explained Mr. Estrosi to Le Figaro, deploring "the drift of a faction which seems to have taken the leadership of the party hostage" to derail the alliance project between LREM and LR at the regional level.
If he says he is "a Gaullist for a long time", Mr. Estrosi deplores having "never suffered such violence in (his) party" as during the discussions around this affair since Sunday, where he assures to have been qualified, just like M. Falco, of "evil".
"What is harmful is to dream only of oneself" and "to come to terms with our enemies of the extreme right", adds Mr. Estrosi, who asks the Republicans to "say clearly that in all circumstances and in all elections, they will block the far right first and foremost ".
"I still regret the departures, but this decision has the merit of consistency", for his part told AFP the president of LR Christian Jacob.
"In accordance with the values of our political family, we are and will remain the determined opponents of the ideology of the National Rally," he added.
Considered "Macron-compatible", Mr. Estrosi threw a stone in the pond last September by suggesting an agreement between the right and Macron for 2022.
For the mayor of Nice, who had launched his political movement "daring France" in September, "it is time to reconstitute a large modern political formation to bring together people from the right and the center around a real project".
"I do not intend to submit to the authority of a political apparatus, or of any governmental authority whatsoever", and "the only ones to whom I am accountable are the voters of my city and our territory, ”he added.
© 2021 AFP