Sstand out without insulting each other. This was one of the main issues of the only debate opposing the three candidates for the presidency of the Republicans, this Monday evening on LCI. Gathered for the first time on a set a fortnight before the internal election, the first round of which is to be held on December 3 and 4, Aurélien Pradié, Bruno Retailleau and Éric Ciotti competed in kindness, striving to leave the knives, which have been sharpening in each camp for several weeks, in the drawer. The two favorites – Vendée senator Bruno Retailleau and Alpes-Maritimes deputy Éric Ciotti – have certainly exchanged a few discreet projections, but they have often joined their voices to maintain the lead they hold over the “challenger”. Aurelien Pradie. The MP for Lot has meanwhile taken the side of embodying a real break – “I want to change everything”, he recalled – and to stand out clearly from his competitors on most subjects, regularly showing them a few arrows.
From the start of the debate, Pradié recalled that he was the youngest candidate, but also the only one to have been mayor, volunteer firefighter, and to have succeeded in snatching a constituency historically on the left. “He showed that he had the niaque, that he would not let it go,” enthuses one of his supporters. Known for his outspokenness, which annoys some internally, the elected Lot did not mince his words on the affair of theocean vikingconsidering, implicitly aiming at his rival Éric Ciotti, that the “chin blows do not serve[aient] to nothing”, that it was not necessary “just to speak”, but to act. “Speaking does not scare smugglers”, he said ironically, before detailing his shock proposal to dry up illegal immigration: create “an international crime of smugglers”.
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On the pension reform, a major point of disagreement between Pradié and his two rivals, he was even more incisive, considering that the postponement of the legal retirement age, to which Retailleau and Ciotti are favorable, would represent a ” punishment “. Mocking the “hypocrisy” of this measure, the ex-mayor of Labastide-Murat took the example of his younger baker brother who started working before he was 20 years old. And the “baby Chirac” to register, on the subject of the contribution period, in the footsteps of… Balladur. Pradié says he wants to take inspiration from the reform carried out by Édouard Balladur in 1993 to organize a retirement after 42 years of contribution.
“The match is folded”, retorted Bruno Retailleau, arguing that it was absolutely necessary to increase the retirement age to balance the pension system, structurally in deficit and demonstrating to him, with supporting figures, that not modifying it would losing purchasing power to the French. Also responding to Pradié, Ciotti chose to quote Georges Clemenceau: “One never lies so much as before the elections, during the war and after the hunt. Choice also welcomed by Bruno Retailleau, a fervent admirer of the Tiger.
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“You will make a perfect general secretary, Eric”
The deputy of the 1D constituency of Lot also surprised by declaring itself in favor of the return of the uniform to school “and to university”. But he above all distinguished himself from his two competitors on the question of the development of renewable energies in general and wind turbines in particular, Pradié joined his voice to that of Éric Ciotti, regretting the choice of LR senators to vote for the text presented. by the presidential majority – which must also be presented shortly to the National Assembly. But, going further than the former finalist in the Republican primary, Pradié says he wants to stop building wind turbines and prepare for their dismantling today – approaching on this specific point a proposal defended by Marine Le Pen during presidential campaign. At the end of the debate, while Éric Ciotti pointed out to Aurélien Pradié that they agreed on the abolition of the primary, the latter launched at the favorite of the ballot, in a mischievous tone mixed with a touch of arrogance : ” Yes, you’re right. You’ll make a perfect general secretary, Eric. »
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“He played the break-up thoroughly but he got burned. He wanted to stand out, but there he left the football field… The LR electorate does not follow him on these points, ”decrypts a lieutenant from Ciotti. The deputy for Lot will have found only one point of agreement with his rival from Nice: the defense of the inclusion of the principles of the Veil law in the Constitution, which Bruno Retailleau opposes. Éric Ciotti did not fail to sting the social conservatism of the Vendée senator, affirming that the right should not be “retrograde” and pleading for a right “open to society” and which projects itself into the future. Éric Ciotti, usually not stingy with shock formulas, played the card of caution, sticking to his guns. “For once, he played it safe,” laughs a Retailleau adviser. He was also the only one, casually, to speak directly to LR voters, retorting to Retailleau, who once again considered that “the brand [était] dead”, that the party “is still moving”. “I would like to thank the LR activists for being there despite everything,” he added.
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Finally, the three aspirants to the presidency of the Republicans spread their divisions on the opportune moment to nominate their candidate. Quoting another left-wing personality, Martine Aubry – “When it’s blurry, there’s a wolf” – Éric Ciotti defended his choice to support the candidacy of Laurent Wauquiez if he were elected president of the Republicans in December. “It would amount to electrocuting our candidate if we lose the European elections in 2024! Retailleau was alarmed.
“We won’t risk electrocuting him if we run out of juice!” […] The right is the leader, ”immediately replied Ciotti, who had obviously prepared this reply. It remains to be seen whether this single debate in a sanitized campaign will change the situation. “Ciotti has consolidated his status as leader, Retailleau has remained in the race and Pradié has been marginalized. The lines will not move that much, ”judges a party executive. Verdict in two weeks.