Over the past few weeks, when his friends asked him about the possibility of a merger with LREM, Renaud Muselier was content to answer that he was open to those who reach out to him, on condition that they pass "a test. PCR ”for“ project, skills, Republic ”.
But Sunday, after the official withdrawal of LREM for its benefit, it is up to the president (LR) of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (Paca) to have been considered as a contact case of macronism by his own political family.
Which immediately placed him in solitary confinement, withdrawing his support in the process.
Under pressure and threatened with being opposed to an LR list against him, Renaud Muselier announced this Monday from Nice, and after having sent an SMS to the president of the party Christian Jacob, that there would be no "holder" on his list. of national mandates ”, whether they are ministers or deputies… Enough to put an end to the expected presence on her lists of Secretary of State Sophie Cluzel, former head of the LREM list in the region? “There are a number of people who want to get on the list and can get there from elsewhere. We will see in due course the choice they will make in relation to the national and regional strategy ”, he evasively answered this question, after a short statement to the press. This Monday,Sophie Cluzel's entourage preferred to retain from the intervention that the Marseillais had insisted more on refusing to have parliamentarians on his lists than ministers ...
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This precision, with the paces of retreat, of Muselier will it be enough for him to recover the support of LR? The subject will be the subject of discussions during a strategic council and a special national investiture commission (CNI) on Tuesday. Rue de Vaugirard, if we welcome the “big snub” inflicted by Renaud Muselier on Jean Castex, who had announced a formal agreement on Sunday, mistrust remains largely in order. "All the hypotheses are on the table, including a candidacy against Muselier", we warn the management of LR where we do not hide that Christian Jacob, whose friendship with the former Secretary of State for Business foreigners, is yet engraved in stone with Chiraquism, was shaken by this agreement which does not speak its name between the outgoing boss of Paca and the presidential majority.
"If there are no ministers or deputies, that's another story"
Suffice to say that the word of Renaud Muselier will be closely monitored at LR headquarters. If the president of deputies LR Damien Abad is delighted with a "first crack in the En Marche-Muselier agreement", he believes that "there are still points to be clarified". In particular the place which will be reserved for LR candidates on the lists while Renaud Muselier recalled the importance of political "overtaking" in his speech. "We expect guarantees that this is not a masked introductory operation of En Marche!" », Warns the mayor of Antibes, Jean Leonetti. Which recalls, however, that the CNI "had given its agreement to Muselier for an opening list". For him, the red line not to be crossed would be the presence of a “notable personality of LREM”. “If there are no ministers or deputies, it's another story being written.This allows a more flexible approach and makes it possible to reinvest Renaud Muselier ”, considers Jean-François Copé for his part.
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In any case, many LR executives welcome the firmness displayed by the party which, by withdrawing its support and brandishing the threat of a competing list, would have surprised Muselier.
"It was enough to see him during his speech: he was shaking, eating his words, he was not well," observes a local LR source.
Not enough to soften the whole party.
“Muzzle is starting to come to his senses, but it is not enough.
His position amounts to saying that he de facto excludes parliamentarians from our region, "annoys Nadine Morano, who takes a dim view of the absence of an LREM list:" We must break away from the Leech Running!
Why doesn't Castex make a Paca list?
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"If the list of En Marche!" withdraws and that we take Marchers on our lists, even if they are not ministers or parliamentarians, what is that called, if not an agreement? "Asks a relative of Eric Ciotti who suspects Renaud Muselier of especially wanting to save time ..." Tactically, Muselier was smart but strategically, it's catastrophic, concludes an LR executive from Paca. The LRs don't really support him anymore and he risks having an En Marche list! facing him. For someone who wanted to add forces… ”“ In the eyes of the electorate anyway, concludes, fatalistically, a local LR source, the damage is done. "