Nearly 500 people gathered on Saturday afternoon in the theater of Saint-Quentin (Aisne) to listen to Xavier Bertrand promise "a modern, young and unifying movement".
"Yes, I still have the same energy and the same desire to carry my ideas", launched the former minister, eliminated from the presidential election of 2022 from the stage of the Republican primary.
Coming from his think tank La Manufacture, "We France will be a collective force, that is perhaps what I lacked", he estimated.
Will he himself be a candidate in 2027?
"Four and a half years before, of course not", assured journalists Xavier Bertrand, claiming a "role of transmission" to "bring out a new generation".
But "we all have a small idea of the person who could wear these colors", launched to applause the president of the council of Essonne François Durovray.
If he remains a member of the Republicans, with Us France Xavier Bertrand intends to "speak to all French people", in particular to the middle classes who will be "a priority", and "to work outside electoral meetings".
Describing himself as "a man of the social right, Gaullist", Xavier Bertrand promised that "We France will not run after the extremes, ever" and will say "no to any deadly idea of union of the right and the extreme right ".
A warning which can be read, in the race for the presidency of LR, as a refusal of the line defended by the very right-wing candidate Eric Ciotti.
"I have a little trouble understanding the new and umpteenth approach of Xavier Bertrand. I leave and I come back then I leave and tomorrow? It reminds me of the popular song of Claude François, less happy", tweeted the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes.
"There is the light of the lighthouse of Alexandria and there is Eric Ciotti", replied on twitter the spokesperson for Nous France, Jean-Didier Berthault.
Flanked by several parliamentarians (Pierre-Henri Dumont, Julien Dive, Dominique Estrosi-Sassone ...), Xavier Bertrand had also invited the UDI senator from the North Valérie Létard.
In addition to the social, the former minister advocated fighting "for order" because "if nothing is done by 2027 (...) withdrawal into oneself, even clashes are likely to emerge" .
Lowering the criminal majority to 15 years, "Republic of the territories", fight for secularism or "ecology of solutions", the former candidate for the primary took up his campaign proposals at length, criticizing "the wokist ideology".
And "we are going to talk to those who work, because in France, we do not earn enough when we work", he added, taking up his idea of "premium at work" covering part of the wage costs.
As for pensions "I am ready to commit myself to support a reform if justice is there" and "if those who are damaged by work can leave earlier", he launched, calling on the executive in consultation.
© 2022 AFP