Regional: this week which (again) tore the right

Tactics, attacks, resignations and psychodramas ... More than a year after the start of the Covid-19 crisis, France has this week regained a semblance of political life from before.

Like a one-year rehearsal of the presidential election, the right is torn apart around the support of La République en Marche (LREM), against the backdrop of threats of victory from the far right.

Stake ?

The regional elections in June in Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur.

It all starts on Sunday, in the Journal du Dimanche. The Prime Minister announces the rallying of LREM to the Les Républicains (LR) list in the Paca region. "The presidential majority responds very favorably to the initiative of Renaud Muselier", says Jean Castex. A few days earlier, the head of the list had called the Marchers “in the right direction”. The deal is this: Sophie Cluzel, Secretary of State for Disabled People, head of the majority list, withdraws and "integrates", with other running mate, "the device led by Renaud Muselier". "I take note […] and welcome it", reacts the head of the LR list, arguing that "the voice of the rally against the extremes is that of reason".

At LR, the announcement of Jean Castex is an earthquake: even if we are in difficulty facing the National Rally list, we do not come to terms with LREM, especially when we are in the opposition ... Renaud Muselier "Will not be able to benefit from the LR nomination" wrote the boss of the Republicans, Christian Jacob, in a press release.

"The first round must be that of clarity and fidelity to its convictions, its commitments and its natural allies", he justifies.

"No compromises with macronism"

Mustard rises to the nose. "They dared the unacceptable", denounces Eric Ciotti, deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes and president of the National Investiture Commission (CNI), even evoking "a stab in the back". "No compromises with the macronism which weakens France like never before", repeats Guillaume Peltier, number 2 of LR. Conversely, Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), supports the merger between LR and LREM. Hubert Falco is in the same line: "Bringing together women and men in the face of extremism has always been my line of conduct", writes the mayor of Toulon (Var). With interviews and tweets, LR is torn apart in the public square. It is a "divorce" between "two irreconcilable rights", commented the ex-LR Bruno Le Maire, now Minister of the Economy.

At the RN, we feast.

“Dear activists, elected officials and LR sympathizers, are you going to let Emmanuel Macron chair your nomination committee?

»Comments RN number 2 Jordan Bardella.

The LR-LREM rapprochement also puts the other right-wing candidates in a difficult position: Xavier Bertrand, who leads the LR list in Hauts-de-France, has already proclaimed himself as opposing Emmanuel Macron for the 2022 campaign, the same goes for Valérie Pécresse in Île-de-France, to whom some also attribute presidential ambitions ...

Dear activists, elected officials and LR sympathizers, are you going to let Emmanuel Macron chair your nomination committee?

Come work with us and defend your convictions alongside us, around @ThierryMARIANI, @JPGarraud and @Droite_Pop! #LesRepublicainsEnMarche

- Jordan Bardella (@J_Bardella) May 2, 2021

In Paris, at the headquarters of the Republicans, the question arises: what should be done? Put an LR list and only LR against Renaud Muselier's list? It is "a hypothesis", "we are going to discuss it", then said Eric Ciotti on Europe 1, joining the position of Bruno Retailleau or David Lisnard (which some would have seen at the top of the list). "We are up against the wall, as far as possible we should make a list, exposes the MEP François-Xavier Bellamy. It's obviously very complicated to do but if the challenge can be met, I believe it must. "

At the same time, Renaud Muselier clarifies things… but remains unclear.

Will there be Walkers on his list?

He will give "priority to candidates who undertake to devote themselves with all their might to local and non-national issues", he said during a visit to Nice alongside Christian Estrosi, excluding "holders of national mandates , whether ministers and deputies, senators and European deputies ”.

Exit, therefore, Sophie Cluzel who the same day said in L'Opinion leading the LR-LREM list in the Var?

"No one can doubt my loyalty"

It is then urgent for LR to settle the Muselier file: Tuesday, Christian Jacob's party brings together the “strategic committee”. This day is for LR the opportunity to get out of the uncertainty and move from words to deeds. “No one can doubt my loyalty to my political family”, of which “I will ask again for the support”, coward just before Renaud Muselier. At the end of this first meeting, Christian Jacob calms things down: there is no question of excluding the boss of the Paca region, but he must "restore clarity". All are therefore waiting for a new press release from the person concerned, which must fall before the CNI which will decide definitively ...

The press release is sent a few hours later.

Does it bring clarity?

Some doubt it, but the CNI will still approve the inauguration of the president of the region, insofar as there is "no agreement, at any level whatsoever, with LREM".

"I will lead a team whose backbone will naturally be The Republicans", writes Renaud Muselier in his press release, defending "a logic of large gathering with the sole objective of helping the region win".

"There is not and there will be no agreement at any level whatsoever with En Marche, no more than with other devices," he says, but specifies being "sensitive to all support that is manifested ”.

VIDEO.

LR does not consider excluding Muselier

While the CNI confirms its support for Renaud Muselier, the government spokesperson throws a stone in the pond: “of course” there will be LREM candidates in Renaud Muselier's list, he says.

"What the Prime Minister announced on Sunday is that we support the candidacy of Renaud Muselier and that people from the list that had been led by Sophie Cluzel would participate in this regional project", then recalls Gabriel Attal.

The next day, Renaud Muselier opens the door to Sophie Cluzel, only "if (she) wants to resign" from her government post.

To which Christian Jacob replies: “It has no place on our LR lists, it was decided yesterday (Tuesday) without ambiguity.

"

Estrosi and Falco leave LR

In this hubbub, another is added: departures. That of Hubert Falco, first, Wednesday. "I decide to take back my freedom," he said in a statement. "Not to be in favor of the union, while the threat of the coming to power of the National Rally has never been so strong, amounts to playing its game", laments the mayor of Toulon, at LR since its creation. He was joined by another party figure on Thursday, Christian Estrosi, deploring to Le Figaro "the drift of a faction which seems to have taken the leadership of the party hostage". And the mayor of Nice to ask the Republicans to "say clearly that in all circumstances and in all elections, they will block the far right before anything else".

Meanwhile, LREM advances its pawns. And continues to create disorder. Wednesday, a high-ranking government source drops a small bomb, for Hauts-de-France: the media minister of justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, could replace Laurent Pietraszewski at the head of the LREM list ... Which would put Xavier Bertrand in a dangerous position. "It would be the right candidate to score better than Pietraszewski and force Xavier Bertrand in view of the triangular (even quadrangular) of the second round," noted a government source. A prospect that would discredit Bertrand's candidacy against Macron for 2022.

While waiting for the officialization of the candidacy of this heavyweight of the government, six days after the announcement of Jean Castex, everything is still so vague in Paca. "I am a candidate for the presidential majority, the presidential majority will be represented in the first round," said Sophie Cluzel on Friday. Is the LR-LREM merger therefore definitely buried? One thing is certain: the right is now weakened. Seven LR personalities sign an open letter to Emmanuel Macron in Le Figaro this Friday. They accuse him of putting “all (his) energy” into “trying to do away with the only possible alternative other than the RN”. By destroying LR one year before the presidential election?