Finally, the kitten offered by Marine Le Pen spends happy days under the sun of the Hérault.
But when the president of the RN had given it in 2016 as a gift to Robert Ménard, cohabitation had turned into a nightmare with the cat of the mayor of Béziers.
"It was him or her, we tried everything," slips the city councilor who ended up, wearily, by entrusting it to another mayor of the Béziers agglomeration.
“On the other hand, this cat got along very well with my dog…”, the mayor still remembers.
As a summary of the complex relations between Marine Le Pen and Robert Ménard whose hair, it is true, can bristle easily.
In recent months, the mayor of Béziers, elected in 2014 with the support of the FN and reelected in 2020 under his name, has continued to intervene in the media to say that Marine Le Pen will lose the presidential election.
“I am easily tough.
I had words that hurt and that I regret.
Mea culpa ”, entrusts the Parisian who says that he should“ stick to the economic differences ”that he has with her (he is more liberal and defends“ the union of the rights ”).
After months of scratching, room for purring?
“We are fixing things up,” he breathes.
"I must admit that she is playing the leading roles again"
The polls help.
That of Harris Interactive, which places Marine Le Pen neck and neck with Emmanuel Macron (48% against 52% for the head of state) in the second round of the presidential election, “delights” Robert Ménard.
“I didn't give much for her skin.
But I must admit that she is playing the leading roles again, she shows a certain resilience, "admits the elected official who nevertheless continues to think that the president of the RN" will have the greatest difficulty in bringing together a majority of French people.
"She must agree to have allies who are not subservient to her," adds the same.
This is however the objective displayed by Marine Le Pen who changed the name of the FN to the National Assembly for this purpose.
What if the mergers started at the regional level?
Again, all eyes are on the polls.
In mid-January, an Ifop survey for Sud Radio gave a hypothetical list of Robert Ménard and his friend Brigitte Barèges, LR mayor of Montauban, 14% in Occitanie.
Barely two points behind an RN list led by MEP Jean-Paul Garraud (regional PS president Carole Delga leads the race at 25%).
"I was flabbergasted by this survey when we have not even launched a list", feels himself growing wings Robert Ménard who has since had lunch once with Jean-Paul Garraud, a former UMP who has the favors of Marine Le Pen to lead the RN list.
Meeting between Marine Le Pen and Emmanuelle Ménard at the Assembly
"With Jean-Paul, we think the same thing so we could go a long way together", slips the mayor of Béziers who ensures that other elected officials, from LR or the UDI, could join.
“We all advocate the gathering.
So let's start by setting an example, ”reacts Jean-Paul Garraud, who recognizes that he“ has no interest or desire to make a separate list ”.
But the path is still steep before reaching an agreement.
"I don't necessarily want to lead the list but it's a bit stupid, I'm better known than Jean-Paul
(Editor's note: Garraud)
and Brigitte
(Editor's note: Barèges)
", observes Robert Ménard.
“The dialogue has begun, everyone has an interest in appeasement.
But Robert Ménard is a personality in every sense of the word, ”one reacts with caution to the management of the RN.
Last Wednesday, Marine Le Pen spoke with his wife, the deputy Emmanuelle Ménard, at the National Assembly.
"A certain number of misunderstandings deserved to be dispelled", slips the parliamentarian whose relations with the president of the RN are notoriously fresh.
A "courteous and productive discussion" of nearly an hour during which all the upcoming elections were discussed.
The National Assembly, which suspects Emmanuelle Ménard of having favored a UDI candidate, and not RN, in the last senatorial elections, threatened to present a candidate against her in the next legislative elections.
"It would be to deny the reality to say that Marine Le Pen does not have a leading role to play," acknowledges the member for Hérault today.
Who adds: “Unfortunately, I fear that the outcome of the presidential election will still be the same as in 2017.” Dogs definitely do not make cats.