Gérard Larcher is not Christian Estrosi.
The president (Les Républicains, LR) of the Senate wants the right to present its own candidate for the presidential election, far from any "
agreement"
with Emmanuel Macron, like the one proposed at the end of August by the mayor of Nice, in
Le Figaro .
"We have a responsibility to offer a democratic alternative to the French,"
argued the elected Yvelines Sunday,
on the set of "Grand Jury RTL-Le Figaro
-LCI".
To read also: Gérard Larcher: "The government will not be able to do without elected officials"
Faced with a right in search of leadership by 2022, and worried about the vacuum left after the renunciation of the mayor of Troyes François Baroin, the second character of the State does not advance as a candidate but as a mediator, conscious of embodying an authority figure in his camp.
“All his commitment”
is based on one objective:
“that we find a way to be present in the second round”
of the presidential election.
An impossible scenario
"if we have several candidates from the families of the right and the center"
in the first round, he warns.
"Tie-breaker" system
From where his proposal, formulated with the president of LR, Christian Jacob, of a system of
"separation"
of the candidates of the right to the presidential one - which would be distinguished from the primary one, in a party traumatized by the failure of François Fillon in 2017, nominated candidate at the end of this process.
This new method should be presented by
"the end of spring"
, wishes Gérard Larcher, that is to say before the regional and departmental elections that the government wishes to postpone to June, due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Read also: Presidential 2022: why François Baroin will not be a candidate
Before this deadline, the elected representative intends to engage in a
"dialogue"
beyond the borders of LR, in order to integrate in the process of designation of former members of the party, such as the president of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand.
A prerequisite for the
"construction of a project"
, in view of which the right will not be able to avoid proposals on immigration policy, argues Gérard Larcher.
Propose "something concrete" on immigration
The former minister of Jacques Chirac calls for
"dealing with this question"
, the fourth concern of the French according to a recent Fondapol-
Le Figaro
survey
, published at the end of October.
"We no longer control our migration policy"
,
"and it did not start in May 2017"
, when Emmanuel Macron arrived at the Elysee Palace, he concedes.
The senator points to a
"misuse of the right to asylum, a fundamental right"
, as well as legal immigration - the first 275,000 residence permits issued last year (+ 6.1% compared to 2018) -
"unsuited to our capacities integration and assimilation ”
.
To read also: "Immigration: the realities that are hidden from us", the shocking book by Patrick Stefanini
"We need work immigration"
, but
"we are not in the situation of the 60s and 70s, when growth was in double digits," he
underlines.
As for family reunification, it must be limited, according to the elected official, via a
"revision of the Constitution"
relating to
"the application of the
European Convention on Human Rights
"
.
Read also: The European Court of Human Rights, a legal straitjacket pointed out
To appear credible in 2022, the right will have to offer
"
something
concrete"
on this subject, suggests Gérard Larcher, refusing a political landscape where
"the alternative to Emmanuel Macron"
would be limited to
"Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon".
"For the social democratic left"
too,
"there is a responsibility"
, he insists, worried to see the mastodons of the Fifth Republic, the Republicans and the Socialist Party, let themselves be overwhelmed by the National Rally and the France rebellious.
In his eyes, a
“democratic”
alternative
is
“essential”
.
See also
- Return of masses: Gérard Larcher "calls for dialogue between worship and the executive"