When Arnaud Danjean became an MEP in 2009, he was only one of twenty-nine representatives of the French right in the European Parliament. After three mandates, the specialist in military issues passes his turn and frees up an eligible place, while there are only eight left to sit in 2024. However, the list led by François-Xavier Bellamy is estimated between 7% and 8% in the polls for the June 9 elections. Enough to plan again for a maximum of eight elected officials. The seven other outgoing MEPs wish to continue their work in Brussels and Strasbourg.
Places became even rarer after the appointments as number two and number three of farmer Céline Imart and former head of military intelligence Christophe Gomart. Several young deputies ask to “renew to death” the rest of the list. Nadine Morano and Brice Hortefeux are in their sights, vestiges, according to them, of a Sarkozyism that has gone out of fashion on the right. A time threatened, the first seems well placed to appear in fourth position. Could the fear of seeing her give in to the sirens of the National Rally (RN), whose vocabulary and ideas she often shares, have played a role? “If she wanted, she would have a place with ussays the RN deputy for Moselle Alexandre Loubet. This would participate in the process that we are trying to initiate, which is to say that LR is over. »
Eric Ciotti thought for a while about bringing down the very media MEP in the list, but the president of LR knows her popularity with activists. The fate of Brice Hortefeux seems more uncertain. In a necessarily equal list, the former minister faces more intense male competition with another outgoing, Geoffroy Didier, the deputy secretary general of the Republicans, Guilhem Carayon, the former deputies Guillaume Larrivé and Julien Aubert, but also a surprise guest , Patrick Dray.
Give yourself time
Revealed by online media Politico, the possible presence in seventh position of Gérard Larcher’s advisor causes internal strangulation. Some see it as a whim of the President of the Senate, others judge this choice “quite incomprehensible”like Pierre-Henri Dumont. “With Céline Imart and Christophe Gomart, we have two quality people but already two non-elected peoplenotes the member for Pas-de-Calais. With Patrick Dray, this would represent almost a third of the eligible places. This is not a very good message sent at the level of the internal representativeness of the party. » The political advisor would also reinforce a very Ile-de-France flavor of the list with François-Xavier Bellamy at the head, and Geoffroy Didier expected at number five.
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