Bertrand arises as a unifier a few days before the LR congress

"I was told: aren't the games made in the Alpes-Maritimes?"

launched at the beginning of the speech the candidate, the only one of the competition to hold a meeting in Nice, in the heart of the powerful federation of his rival Eric Ciotti.

But "the games are never made", he added, while the LR members will nominate their candidate from December 1 to 4, during a congress with an outcome that is difficult to predict.

Xavier Bertrand, who also left LR in 2017 before resuming his card in October, reconsidered his choice at length, in front of the 250 spectators who came to listen to him, justifying it by his convictions against the far right.

Despite this departure "I have never joined the government of Emmanuel Macron", he said in the city of Christian Estrosi, ex-LR who recently signed a platform supporting the re-election of the head of state .

At the entrance to the room Alexandra, 41, explains that "Xavier Bertrand doubted, but he came back humbly, and I don't hold it against him".

She nevertheless assures us: "I also really like Eric Ciotti!"

For Renée, 65, it will be "especially not Ciotti who looks too much like Zemmour!", The identity polemicist who was in Marseille on Friday.

"Ciotti will do a lot here, but in the end it is Bertrand who will come out", she wants to believe.

Laura, 16, a very recent member, hesitates between Xavier Bertrand and Valérie Pécresse "who marked the debates".

"On December 4, a new stage of the presidential campaign will open. I want to lead it with Michel Barnier, Valérie Pécresse, Eric Ciotti and Philippe Juvin", assured the candidate, hammering his "will to rally".

Assuring to be "the one who can best understand the French", he recalled the three pillars of his project: "authority, work and territories", leaving the desk of his speech to survey the stage during questions and answers .

But "it is as a team that we succeed" he added, welcoming the ideas of carbon tax at the EU border of Michel Barnier, educational reserve of Valérie Pécresse, and suspension of family allowances in case truancy of Eric Ciotti.

© 2021 AFP