Alexandre Chauveau // Photo credit: Ludovic MARIN / AFP
modified to
8:14 a.m., March 23, 2024
François-Xavier Bellamy is holding his first meeting of the European campaign this Saturday. The Republican candidate will be at the Paris Docks, alongside Céline Imart, farmer and number two on her list, as well as the new recruit, General Christophe Gomart. The LRs seek to maintain their place between the list of Valérie Hayer and those of Marion Maréchal and Jordan Bardella.
First meeting and first real spotlight for François-Xavier Bellamy in this campaign for the European elections. The step is important this afternoon, but decisive, we put it into perspective among the Republicans. Five years ago, the full and enthusiastic halls did not prevent the final disappointment.
Recovering lost political space
This time, the candidate is banking more, like his competitors, on the impact of televised debates. Nevertheless, the meeting remains an essential campaign format. Céline Imart and Christophe Gomart, the two new recruits, should speak on stage. It will be just before François-Xavier Bellamy’s speech.
A speech that his advisors promise to be offensive. The objective is to assert itself and try to distance itself from Marion Maréchal and Jordan Bardella, who are very close ideologically to the Republican candidate. To do this, the party is focusing its campaign on substance. Proud of the battles waged over five years in Strasbourg, but nevertheless aware that an assessment does not make an election, “there will be two or three key moments that we will have to know how to seize”, we anticipate at Les Républicains who have been struggling since 2017 to regain their former political space.