Un mea culpa half-word. This Monday, Valérie Pécresse, much criticized after her first big meeting on Sunday in Paris, admitted on Monday that she was “more comfortable in direct dialogue with the French” and defended herself from taking over the theory. of the “great replacement”, a much criticized part of his speech. “The room was incandescent, it was hard to take, […] if you want speakers, there are plenty of them in the countryside, I am a doer, more at ease in direct dialogue with the French, perhaps more at ease on this set with you,” said admitted on RTL the presidential candidate LR. “There was a candidate who had trouble holding rallies at the start of his political career and I believe his name was Emmanuel Macron,” she added, defending an “extremely constructed, extremely solid”, but that “no one is looking”.
As for her use of the expression “great replacement”, which she is strongly criticized for, she assured: “The sentence is: ‘I do not resign myself to the great downgrading nor to the great replacement’, that means that I do not resign precisely to the theories of Éric Zemmour and the theories of the extreme right, because I know that another way is possible. “That’s what I said yesterday and everyone makes me say the opposite,” she added, assuring: “It’s a sentence I said ten times in primary school and all the commentators who take it up have memories of periwinkles. »
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Asked about the reality of the phenomenon, she replied that “there is no fatality in the great replacement and the great downgrading” – the very expression she used on Sunday. “There are areas of non-France today in France, but I can’t resign myself to this great replacement, but it’s something I’ve been saying for months, so I don’t even understand the controversy. “, she added.
“No misunderstanding possible”
Valérie Pécresse can also count on her supporters to provide after-sales service for her first major campaign speech. The former candidate for the nomination LR Michel Barnier abounds in this direction. Asked about the subject by LCI, he believes that on the contrary the candidate “used this word to say that she did not want it”. “No misunderstanding possible. She says she don’t want [pas] of the theories of Mr. Zemmour”, he hammered.
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On France Info, its spokesperson, Aurélien Pradié, assures that “Valérie Pécresse had a speech from a republican right which has nothing to do with the desire for civil war carried by Éric Zemmour”. “I heard him speak of a success given to every kid in this country, he continues, saying that those who failed tomorrow would be helped to get up. the great replacement, Valérie Pécresse said for several months that she did not believe in this theory or that of the great downgrading. »
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SOS Racisme denounces “unworthy” remarks
The speech of Valérie Pécresse had quickly suffered criticism, in particular for having used this expression. Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo estimated on Sunday that candidate LR had crossed “one more Rubicon” by evoking this conspiracy theory relayed by far-right candidate Éric Zemmour. On Monday, Olivier Faure drove home the point by declaring his “astonishment to see a candidate who calls herself a Republican take up the words and concepts of the far right”, and by denouncing a “permanent drift of the right”. The SOS Racisme association also denounced Valérie Pécresse’s “unworthy” remarks on Monday, calling on the candidates to stop chasing the far right.
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“Valérie Pécresse’s remarks are not worthy of a major contender for the presidency of the Republic”, declared the president of SOS Racisme Dominique Sopo, quoted in a press release, regretting that the level of debate “collapses in the mediocrity, irrationality and violence under the influence of the extreme right”. “Valérie Pécresse, he concludes, is wrong to want to give signs to a radicalized electorate, because this electorate is never sufficiently satisfied with hatred. Furthermore, it is known from the Christchurch attacks that the Great Replacement Theory can lead to deadly consequences. »