Gérald Darmanin set the scene for his political comeback on Sunday in Tourcoing, explaining that he did not want to let Marine Le Pen “go irretrievably to power”, while praising the record of Emmanuel Macron, pending the arrival of Élisabeth Borne. The Minister of the Interior gathered his supporters on Sunday in his electoral stronghold in the North for a day devoted to the “working classes” to which the Prime Minister was invited in extremis and while LR is returning to the Alps at the same time. -Maritimes.
Gérald Darmanin caused a stir within the majority by openly evoking the presidential election of 2027, for which he deemed a victory for the leader of the National Rally during the week “quite likely”. “We are here to defend of course the results of the President of the Republic who has done a lot. There are four years left and we still have to do a lot, I imagine”, declared the Minister of the Interior before the opening of the debates .
11 ministers made the trip
“And then we are also here to say that there is a problem. Obviously, we cannot let Marine Le Pen go irretrievably to power, if ever we are not more motivated to defend the president’s record and be within reach. ‘battle, as we say when you are an elected official anchored in the territories,’ added Gérald Darmanin. About 700 people attended this back-to-school event organized by the minister in his electoral stronghold in the North. 11 ministers made the trip, including Olivier Dussopt (Labour). Emmanuel Macron’s adviser Bruno Roger-Petit also made the trip.
Also present are parliamentarians from the three majority groups. Horizons, the party of Édouard Philippe, is represented by its group president in the Assembly Laurent Marcangeli. A few MoDem deputies are also on the trip.
“Special Sensitivity”
Beyond the majority, some members of the Republicans have honored the invitation, while the party is also organizing its return to school on Sunday in the Alpes-Maritimes, stronghold of its boss Eric Ciotti. The deputies Virginie Duby-Muller and Alexandre Vincendet or even the senators Stéphane Le Rudulier and Marc-Philippe Daubresse preferred to go to Tourcoing. Also present, Jérôme Lavrilleux, the former adviser to Jean-François Copé, and the ex-minister Catherine Vautrin whom Emmanuel Macron had for a time considered appointing to Matignon. The president of the centrist Union in the Senate Hervé Marseille took the floor.
“If I have always defended a particular sensitivity, in supporting the President of the Republic, the idea is obviously not to create a party or a movement”, assured Mr. Darmanin. “We have a good record to defend for the working and middle classes. It is not always understood. We need to explain it more and I put myself in this criticism. People are asking for a lot more security, they ask for a better control of immigration, that we reaffirm secularism. Perhaps I have not been up to it enough, I do not give lessons to anyone, “also developed the minister.
“It’s the end of the Renaissance”
With his statements, Gérald Darmanin seemed to accelerate the timetable for the succession of Emmanuel Macron, causing tensions within the majority. “2027 is a long way off,” replied Élisabeth Borne this week, while Renaissance boss Stéphane Séjourné warned that “ideas” should “pass before egos”. “In Tourcoing, the post-Macron period has begun,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Saturday. “It’s the end of the Renaissance,” added the leader of the socialist party Olivier Faure, for whom Gérald Darmanin “will bring together the right and the far right”.
Gérald Darmanin recently received strong support from Nicolas Sarkozy, who judges Sunday in Le Parisien that a “leader” of the right will have, in 2027, to gather the support of “Eric Zemmour, Emmanuel Macron and Eric Ciotti”.