Xavier Bertrand, who announced Monday his participation in the LR congress to nominate the right-wing presidential candidate, will not resume his party membership card, he told senators Les Républicains on Tuesday.
“I left my party - at the time I explained myself very clearly - I did not leave my political family, I never joined another party, I never created a other party and I did not betray either, ”declared the president of Hauts-de-France when he left the group meeting.
"I go in front of my family because I trust the activists, I think they will wish to have someone who carries their values and who can make them win," added Xavier Bertrand.
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Presidential 2022: Xavier Bertrand will submit to the vote of LR activists
Xavier Bertrand is the first of the five candidates for the congress to be received by the LR senators who will also hear in the coming weeks the president of the Ile-de-France region Valérie Pécresse (ex-LR), the former European negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier (LR), LR mayor of La Garenne-Colombes Philippe Juvin and LR deputy for Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti.
"Well I chose the gathering"
Launched in the presidential race in the spring and opposed to a primary, Xavier Bertrand finally announced Monday evening on TF1 that he would participate in the LR congress, in the name of a "rally".
Asked about what may appear as a turnaround, the former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy launched: "I'm going it alone, I am reproached for it, I play the rally, I am reproached for it, must choose, well I have chosen the meeting ".
He also indicated that he made a commitment before the LR senators to support the candidate who will be appointed by the congress.
