“On is not going to stay on the bench for five years. “No need to push Franck Louvrier, the LR mayor of La Baule, on the hypothesis of a rapprochement with macronie. This devotee of Nicolas Sarkozy, whom he advised for his communication in his conquest of power and for five years at the Élysée, is aligned with the positions of his former boss and friend. While the leaders of LR, and in the first place the president of the party, Christian Jacob, are tense at the idea of an LR-LREM convergence, the local elected official Franck Louvrier sees it, on the contrary, as consistency. “If some want to stay on their island, let them do it, launches the Baulois, who actively supported Valérie Pécresse in the first round. Me, I think that we must work in intelligence with the President of the Republic, we must mobilize to help him. As we voted for Emmanuel Macron in the second round, it is normal that we support him in the process to succeed in the reforms that France needs. The country, rather than the party! »
The one who is also close to Christian Estrosi – the mayor of Nice who left LR in May 2021 to join the Macron camp and is part of the political office of Horizons, the movement of Édouard Philippe – remains for the moment an LR insert, but dreams aloud of “a German-style coalition or federation of parties” which could bring together LR and LREM. “We are not going to create a godillot party which has no firepower and favors the slingers, continues Franck Louvrier. We get together to get our projects across, it’s as simple as that. »
The man could be part of the war prizes of the macronists for the next government. “The question does not arise, eludes the one who was elected mayor of La Baule in the last municipal elections of 2020. When you are in politics, it is with the passion to want to do, and on this point in La Baule, I am fulfilled. During this presidential election, voters sent us a clear message: “Stay on the right, but work with the President of the Republic!” Now, how is this organized? It’s up to the president to see, he’s the boss! »
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An LR Prime Minister?
Isolated the Louvrier case? Oh no, and less and less. While the top of LR displays an uncompromising line, local elected officials are much more open to dialogue. And it is not the least. After the pre-presidential defectors Éric Woerth, Guillaume Larrivé, the mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart, we are talking about the mayor of Le Touquet and treasurer of LR, Daniel Fasquelle, and that of Châteauroux, Gil Avérous, rising value, among others, just like regional bosses, Jean Rottner, in the Grand Est, or even Christelle Morançais, at the head of Pays de la Loire, whose name enjoys a good rating among political bookmakers for the formation of the future government.
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If the center-right electorate had not voted for Emmanuel Macron in the first round, we could have had a Le Pen-Mélenchon duel in the second, that is the reality.
She keeps her feet on the ground. “I have not been approached for the moment, specifies Christelle Morançais. And it’s not about getting into government just to be in it. The choices, and in the first place that of the Prime Minister, should be aligned with my convictions. “New face of politics, forties and business leader, dynamic and pragmatic, the Sarthoise – she was born and lives in Le Mans – is a target for macronie. The one who joined the UMP in 2002 is considering leaving LR, just like her friend Renaud Muselier, the president of the southern region, did. She has not forgotten that, a few hours before her regional victory at the end of a difficult campaign, in Christian Jacob’s office, her party’s staff had written off her name, believing in his defeat; and she does not understand why, at the head of a region that counts for the right, she is not listened to among the Republicans. “I have my independence, and I am very attached to it, underlines Christelle Morançais. And we must take into account the results of the presidential election: if the center-right electorate had not voted for Emmanuel Macron in the first round, we could have had a Le Pen-Mélenchon duel in the second, that is the reality . We, if we win in our cities and our regions, it is because we are able to bring together the largest possible group. In my region, my majority extends from Bruno Retailleau to the MoDem, and when I work with Johanna Rolland, the mayor of Nantes, and Stéphane Le Foll, the mayor of Le Mans, that does not make me a socialist…”
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If it continues to refuse openness, it risks becoming a cult”.
The mayor of Saint-Étienne, supporter of a social right, Gaël Perdriau, had warned against the right-wing hardening of his party before the presidential election – an exit which had cost him his place as vice-president of the party. Always inserted LR, the one who presents himself as “a resistant from the inside” does not mince his words today. “The line followed for the presidential election has led us to a dead end, attacks the Stéphanois. It’s not for lack of having said it. And if our party was unable to build a credible project for the presidential election in five years, I don’t see how it could do it in a few weeks for the legislative elections. But Perdriau does not advocate “melting LR into a single large party”, no, he wants to encourage the governing bodies of his party to “defend a government pact” with Emmanuel Macron around major themes: work, the environmental emergency, the authority of the State… “I would like LR to be able to enter into a contract with the President of the Republic around four to five strong proposals to influence the policy of the next five years”, he says.
And let things be clear: when asked about a possible ministerial post, the answer is clear: “I am committed to the Stéphanois, and I remain so. I’m not in a hunt for morocco, it doesn’t make me “trip”. You can worry about France without looking for a job. “From France, and from the future of the LR right too. “I would not like my party to withdraw into itself,” sighs Gaël Perdriau. If it continues to refuse openness, it risks becoming a cult. “The mayor of Cannes and president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), David Lisnard, opts for the reform of the interior: “There are already nine formations in the macronie, to become the tenth in the form of a sub-Act or a sub-Horizon makes no sense”, declares, in Le Figaro of this Thursday, April 28, the one who, from his New Energy movement, wants to contribute to “defining the raison d’être of the right”. Huge construction site.