"Of course, Marine Le Pen can win", but "if she won, things would be, believe me, seriously different for the country. And not for the better. Her program is dangerous", points out the former head of government, who notes that, "by comparison", "the very great aggressiveness of Éric Zemmour seems to soften" the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen.
The mayor of Le Havre also indicated that in the event of victory "of the extremes" in the presidential election, he would "ask the question of going to the legislative elections" in June.
The former tenor of LR, who joined Emmanuel Macron after his 2017 election and who has since founded his own party, Horizons, also says he "fears strong abstention" in the April ballot.
"To this voter, I would say that his life and the destiny of the country will not be the same at all if Emmanuel Macron remains president, or if Marine Le Pen or Jean-Luc Mélenchon become so", he argues, judging " unbearable people who explain to you that with them, everything will be simple and easy".
"When I see the twelve candidates, I tell myself that the President of the Republic is, by far, the best able to face these difficulties", he underlines again, considering that "Emmanuel Macron is right to tell the truth to the French, even if it is not popular", in particular with regard to the pension reform project.
Asked about the advisability of "reaching out to moderate right-wing personalities, such as Valérie Pécresse and Xavier Bertrand", in the event of re-election, the former Prime Minister invited not to "draw plans on the comet", but slips that he "never thought that we could not work with the moderate and republican right, on the contrary".
© 2022 AFP