Emmanuelle Mignon, President Sarkozy's former cabinet director, once said that "Emmanuel Macron is the best president of the civil right in a long time".

Presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse will now painfully remember the comment made by her former classmate at the Sainte-Marie Catholic private school.

Because, of all people, the chairman of the Finance Commission of the National Assembly and former budget minister under Sarkozy, Eric Woerth, called for Macron to be elected.

Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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This is a heavy blow for Pécresse, who wanted to sail out of the election campaign doldrums with a first major rally in Paris on Sunday.

Woerth belongs to the liberal wing of the Republicans (LR) and embodies serious budgeting and financial policy expertise.

Woerth's government record includes the last major pension reform in 2010, which went hand in hand with raising the retirement age from 60 to 62.

Several criminal proceedings in Sarkozy's wake have not damaged his reputation in the party.

"Emmanuel Macron is the best candidate"

"Emmanuel Macron is the best candidate to defend the interests of the French," the renegade MP told Le Parisien newspaper.

"I bet that Macron is serious about reform and knows how to use the freedoms of a second term," Woerth said.

During the “yellow vest” crisis, the pandemic and the resulting economic crisis, nobody could have ruled better than Macron.

"A second mandate for Emmanuel Macron would be a great opportunity for France, just as a second mandate for Nicolas Sarkozy would have been," Woerth said.

He accused the Republicans of spreading “a nostalgic and introverted world view”.

He respects and appreciates Valérie Pécresse, but does not recognize his own party.

He lamented the "race" with the extreme right.

His party had “drifted away”.

Woerth also noted that Macron's beliefs are "no further left" than his own.

The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, agreed with Woerth.

Estrosi left the Republicans in favor of Macron a few months ago.

"Emmanuel Macron best embodies the Republican ideal," Estrosi told France Info radio.

He also turned his back on the former presidential party with regret.

But he no longer recognizes himself in her.

"France's future rests on modernizing its economy," said Estrosi.

Retrospective nostalgia is out of place.

Estrosi pointed out that the course set by agitators like Eric Ciotti in the south of France has led to well-known Republicans such as Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur (PACA) regional council leader Renaud Muselier considering a move to Macron.

Ciotti accused Woerth of "treason" on Wednesday.

In the primaries, Ciotti had called for a French Guantanamo for terrorist suspects and army operations in the suburbs.

He adopted the thesis of a major “repopulation” that fueled fears of an organized resettlement of France by immigrants from the Arab-Muslim cultural area.

Pécresse has come to terms with Ciotti, as he received almost 40 percent of the votes in the membership vote on the presidential candidacy.

Now all eyes are on Nicolas Sarkozy, who despite his convictions still has a large following.

So far, the former president has not spoken out in favor of Pécresse.

In the newspaper "Le Figaro" he complained that the 54-year-old presidential candidate only ever glorified President Chirac, but hardly mentioned his tenure.

"Who made her Minister?

That wasn't Chirac," he teased.

Pécresse had previously blasphemed that Sarkozy only made her university minister (2007 to 2012) because no man wanted to push through university reform against the resistance of professors and student unions.

Sarkozy also confided in "Le Figaro" how little he liked Pécresse's attempt to reduce his banlieue politics to his "Kärcher" remark.

He complained that she hadn't consulted him when she, too, said she wanted to get the high-pressure jet out of the basement to clean the banlieue.

This recourse was "junk", according to Sarkozy.

He also dislikes the role of campaign director Patrick Stefanini.

He would advise her not to pay so much attention to Stefanini.

He recently published a polemical book entitled “Immigration – The Facts That Are Hidden From Us”.

Former justice minister in Sarkozy's cabinet, Rachida Dati, attacked "the myth" that Stefanini would win elections.

She pointed out that Stefanini had dropped the affairs entangled presidential candidate Fillon five years ago in the middle of the campaign, and forbade advice from a "loser".