Valérie Pécresse had, Friday, February 11, a conversation "among friends" with Nicolas Sarkozy whose support is long overdue, which fuels speculation a few days before the first major campaign meeting of the candidate Les Républicains in the presidential election.
"We had a frank and affectionate conversation" and "it was very useful for me to have the advice of a former President of the Republic", assured Valérie Pécresse, "very happy with this interview" of more than an hour with the former head of state which was "also a family moment".
In Nicolas Sarkozy's entourage, they describe "an in-depth discussion in a very friendly and warm atmosphere".
"Valérie Pécresse had requested this interview several days ago, it was completely normal for Nicolas Sarkozy to receive her", we added.
>> To read: Presidential: former minister LR Éric Woerth announces his support for Emmanuel Macron
The meeting had taken on particular importance after several signals interpreted as so many alerts.
First rallies to Emmanuel Macron: the former Sarkozyist minister Éric Woerth on Wednesday, the mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart on Thursday and the former Secretary of State Nora Berra on Friday, who all considered excessive the place given to immigration by candidate LR.
In addition, Rachida Dati crushed, Thursday, Patrick Stefanini, the campaign manager of Valérie Pécresse, calling him a "loser" and a "deserter".
🗣 Valérie Pécresse campaign ➡️ Patrick Stefanini “corrected his words quite pathetically.
His campaign lessons, they better keep them.
I'm not interested in losers,” replies R. Dati.
“It should be remembered that he was convicted of fictitious employment.”
pic.twitter.com/EZBTw8Kosb
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) February 10, 2022
Last but not least, remarks attributed to Nicolas Sarkozy in an article in Le Figaro have fueled speculation: "Valérie is going all over the place", she is "non-existent" and "didn't understand anything about the countryside", "he doesn't there is no dynamic...
An "ultra decisive" Parisian meeting
After a fanfare start in early December, the campaign of the president of the Île-de-France region is indeed skating, and critics are speaking out about its too technical nature.
Far behind Emmanuel Macron in the polls, Valérie Pécresse is in a pocket handkerchief with her far-right rivals Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour.
In the candidate's team, we relativize: "no importance should be given" to rallies which "the voters do not care about", says one.
"It's up to Nicolas Sarkozy to decide what he says" about his support, assures another.
>> To see: The bad pass of Valérie Pécresse
But some do not hide their annoyance after these rallies.
"It's calculated a few days before the meeting" on Sunday, says support for the LR candidate who is targeting the Macron camp: "It's proof that Valérie Pécresse worries them".
"This establishes the fact that the meeting will be ultra decisive" when 6,000 people are expected at the Zenith in Paris, he adds, convinced that Nicolas Sarkozy is "playing" with the situation and wants to recall his weight.
Last president that the right has known, figure of the commander of an entire political family, he has still not supported Valérie Pécresse and displays a certain closeness with Emmanuel Macron.
"A clap of thunder if he did not support her"
On January 30 on France 3, the candidate said her "conviction" that the former head of state "will support his political family" but "it's his choice", she insisted, before adding: "I don't I'm not a girl under guardianship, I have my independence".
"Not sure that he liked it", judges an ex-LR rallied to the macronie, who assures him: "Nicolas Sarkozy's voice counts in the right-wing electorate. It would be a thunderclap if he did not did not support".
Valérie Pécresse also made a lot of reference to Jacques Chirac in this campaign.
"She would be well advised to quote me a little if she wants me to support her," said Nicolas Sarkozy, according to Le Figaro.
"Who made him minister for five years, huh, it's Chirac?".
>> To read: Valérie Pécresse brandishes again the "Kärcher" dear to Sarkozy
Words that are difficult to verify, even if the interlocutors of the former head of state testify that he may have a hard tooth.
"On the form it is quite rough. He is not in absolute detestation but good .... He sees the lack of impact of the measures, the Kärcher it did not please him because she did not ask him “, testifies an elected official, in allusion to the martial words of the candidate claiming to want to “bring out the Kärcher” in the face of delinquency.
And then "Sarko he needs to be treated. Macron will treat him a little", adds this elected official who says he is "quite pragmatic: if we are in a position to beat Macron, he will have no other choice than us support. On the other hand, if we are in difficulty, he can support us on the head".
With AFP
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