The right, which is coming back to school next weekend, can it still get up by the 2022 presidential election? To believe the mayor (LR) of Saint-Etienne, Gaël Perdriau, reelected this year, it is far from being won. At 48 years old, the one who is also LR vice-president in charge of the project, multiplies the programmatic forums and warns his party: he does not go far enough in the recasting of his ideas. Not enough, in any case, to allow him to compete with Emmanuel Macron in two years.
You recently said that LR had been in a "suicidal refusal of modernity". It's always like that ?
GAËL PERDRIAU . Our software has stopped. For example, we have been unable to think about changes in the world of work, which, under the effects of the digital society and globalization, has changed profoundly. Between 2007 and the 2019 Europeans, we went from a third of the votes to 8%. We are no longer credible. It is high time to recover, and this requires the ability to define a real political project. Let's give ourselves the means.
Christian Jacob, boss of the Republicans, has yet revived the party on the path of reflection. Not far enough?
We have not sufficiently adapted our proposals to changes in today's world. I call for an in-depth reflection on changes in society, in order to protect our economic, social, political and cultural heritage. We must build a social project of which I identify three pillars: social well-being, sustainable development and the values of the Republic.
On ecology, the right is very late ...
On sustainable development, we are the political heirs of personalities like Jacques Chirac, who, beyond the agreed speeches of certain environmentalists, have been able to address the issue in a concrete way. We have abandoned this way of doing things. We must be daring, because the planet can no longer wait, but also concrete. In Saint-Etienne, we have installed micro-hydraulic power plants, created charging stations for electric vehicles, and implemented a vast housing isolation plan. These are pragmatic decisions that take into account the needs of the population.
Political Newsletter
Every day, political news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers. Learn more
You say there is a gap between LREM and the RN. Today, it does not seem so obvious ...
I want us to be credible for the 2022 presidential election, and today that is not the case. We say that we embody authority, that we are the party of work, of decentralization? We must have the humility to recognize that we have not fully proven ourselves on all these subjects. We must work, follow our convictions to the end. We must rely on Gaullism, which remains a doctrine of extraordinary pragmatism. An ethical code that helps avoid abuses. De Gaulle said: "You must not be prisoners of anything if you want to advance in the thick forest of moving ideas. "
You deplore that LR is systematically turning into a presidential stable. But without incarnation, how can you be heard?
A lot of names are out there, but I don't want to be a beauty pageant judge. We must defend a clear political line with a project of our time, and not rely on an idealized society that has disappeared. The choice of who will wear our colors will be made later.
At the party, everyone seems to be hanging on to François Baroin's decision ...
I don't know what he will decide, but he is one of the most credible candidates. But this credibility will depend on its ability to embody the break with the line of 2017, excessively conservative, to the point of flirting with the identity right. We paid it cash at the ballot box. We must refocus on social and environmental requirements and on the values of the Republic.
Do you fear a social explosion at the start of the school year? Is the government doing enough?
The economic measures taken during the Covid-19 crisis have been good. Bruno Le Maire has preserved the essential and limited the economic and social damage. But the hardest part is yet to come and the economy has not picked up. The social re-entry will also crystallize fears about the future. The country is like a pressure cooker. The government must make strong and concrete announcements. Since Macron was elected, they have rarely been followed in practice.