Clamecy (France) (AFP)
The former Socialist Minister of Productive Recovery Arnaud Montebourg declared on Saturday in Clamecy (Nièvre) his candidacy for the presidency of the Republic in order to stimulate a "remount" of France, considering himself "legitimate" despite the plethora of offers from candidates left.
Arnaud Montebourg adds his name to the long list of declared or putative candidates on this side of the political spectrum, including the rebellious Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the socialist Anne Hidalgo, the communist Fabien Roussel or the candidate from the primary environmentalist.
"It is for this difficult but magnificent task (...) that I decided to present today to the French my candidacy for the presidency of the Republic", proclaimed Arnaud Montebourg, leaning on the desk of a stage barely raised, in the modest reception hall of the town hall.
In an atmosphere heated by several hundred supporters, Arnaud Montebourg, 58, confided "to feel the legitimacy to bring to power" the "ideas, fights and projects (which he says he has) carried in the past" and today. Hui became according to him "the center of gravity of the convictions of the French", like the fight against neoliberal globalization, or reindustrialisation and the Sixth Republic.
Calling himself a "man of the left", he nevertheless said he wanted to break free from the left-right divide: "The right-wing parties do not know how to protect you against injustices, the left-wing parties do not know how to protect you against insecurity" .
Its "remountada" would be industrial, with public-private alliances and protectionist regulations;
ecological with a "France without oil within 20 years";
democratic with the Sixth Republic by referendum;
"territorial" in order to respond to the "fall of public services" in the countryside;
security with a "republican severity" against the "submersion of territories by delinquency" ...
- "Orderly break" -
The "remountada" can also be seen as a way of associating the expectations of the French with one's own personal journey.
Because beyond his program, Arnaud Montebourg, who became an entrepreneur and producer of honey and ice cream, is starting from afar.
Former socialist minister Arnaud Montebourg announces his candidacy for the presidential election, in Clamecy (Nièvre) on September 4, 2021 JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK AFP
Without party support, without troops other than the 4,500 free members of his movement "Engagement", with polls crediting him between 2 and 5%: some on the left question the possibility that he will "go to the end" of his candidacy.
"He thinks that Emmanuel Macron knew how to do it, and therefore that anything is possible", observes Christophe Clergeau, member of the leadership of the Socialist Party.
"But it is not reasonable to approach the presidential election via a pure individual adventure. The candidates must be backed by political formations which conclude a coalition agreement".
Socialist Senator Mickaël Vallet, support from the start of Mr. Montebourg, exclaims: "So they have not learned anything from Macron? Montebourg is a man of the left, an entrepreneur, who speaks to all French people, his goal is no 'is not to talk to members ".
François Cocq, former close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, sees in the positioning of the former minister "the extension of the popular dynamic of Mélenchon in 2017", which had allowed the Insoumis to achieve 19.6% of the votes.
"Unlike him, Arnaud Montebourg embodies an orderly break. Because people are not ready for a leap into the void," adds Mr. Cocq, who came to Clamecy as the demographer Emmanuel Todd, the economist Liêm Hoang-Ngoc and other disappointed with Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
However, Christophe Clergeau describes an Arnaud Montebourg "closer to the PS than to LFI. He speaks of a popular bloc, not of the people against the elites".
The socialist framework hopes to rally to Anne Hidalgo in the fall.
Among the Greens, party spokesman Alain Coulombel warns: "A small-caliber campaign, without a lot of financial and activist means, we knew how to do at EELV in the past: it does not win a presidential election".
© 2021 AFP