Maxime Tandonnet: "Renaud Muselier could work for the re-election of President Macron"

A keen observer of French political life and regular contributor to the FigaroVox, Maxime Tandonnet has notably published André Tardieu.

The misunderstood (Perrin, 2019).

The president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, Renaud Muselier, announced his resignation from the Republicans on Wednesday, November 24. The former Secretary of State for European Affairs under Jacques Chirac explained his gesture by his refusal of a right-wing movement which would have been expressed during the debates prior to the congress in charge of appointing an LR candidate for the presidential elections. In this regard, he more particularly targeted his opponent from the PACA region: "

" while the latter "

". He thus condemned a "

" of his former political formation and the elected representative assured to want to stick to his "

": "

”.

In fact, the resignation of Renaud Muselier is not an event in itself but it takes on its full meaning through what it reveals or confirms of French political life today.

This resignation does not show French policy in its best light and is not likely to restore the link between the French and their representatives.

Maxime Tandonnet

A debate of ideas is underway as part of the preparation of the LR congress.

Five candidates are in the running and present various and sometimes divergent lines, in particular on the question of immigration which is in the background of the alleged drift of the movement.

During the first televised debate, Eric Ciotti did not disavow the formula "

»Loaned to Eric Zemmour but he was the only one of the five on this line. A resignation based on the pretext of an ideological drift, while the debate is taking place on the choice of a personality and a project, may seem largely premature, even paradoxical. Mr. Muselier had spoken a few days earlier in favor of one of the protagonists of this debate, Xavier Bertrand, whose proposals, including on immigration, should therefore suit him.

Moreover, this is not the first time that the party resulting from Gaullism has looked into the subject of immigration. The program of the right in 1990 (RPR and UDF) was particularly muscular - providing for the abolition of certain social benefits to foreigners - without this provoking, at the time, any protest on the part of the new indignant today . Likewise, none of the right-wing personalities from LR, who today claim to be offended in their ideological virtue, had expressed their concern at the project of candidate Nicolas Sarkozy to create a ministry of immigration and national identity in 2007 - an association deemed transgressive at the time by columnists and left-wing leaders. So why today an indignation that yesterday did notwas wrong?

To read also Jérôme Sainte-Marie: "The reconciliation with the LREM list is a burden for Renaud Muselier"

In truth, this resignation does not show French policy in its best light and is not likely to restore the link between the French and their representatives.

Renaud Muselier was elected president of the PACA region in 2021 with the support of the right-wing LR - even if the opening of his list to elected LaREM officials had earned him criticism from his training.

This

resignation

of a political formation to which it owes (at least in part) its election raises the eternal question of fidelity to the mandate entrusted by the voters and also that of representative democracy. It comes at the worst time for its former camp (or "political family") emphasizing its internal rifts and its weaknesses while LR, according to all the polls, is threatened with a new elimination of the second round of the presidential elections which could , this time, be fatal to him.

Beyond the substantive considerations (on the right-wing) which are invoked, the explanation of this resignation finds at least partially its source in the grub of PACA and the exacerbation of personal rivalries between the president of the region and Eric Ciotti or David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes, recently elected president of the association of mayors against the LREM-compatible candidate who had the favors Mr. Muselier.

In the shadow of this political turpitude, what remains of the general interest?

Even so, so that this choice does not appear to be purely opportunistic, it would have to be based on real substantive reasons.

What justifies it from a public interest point of view?

Maxime Tandonnet

LR's resignation at this stage of French political life, under pretexts of substantive incompatibility, could well fuel the feeling that the president of PACA is taking another step towards rallying to President Macron's candidacy. to his re-election - considered probable if not acquired by most observers -, like other right-wing personalities in his region.

Even so, so that this choice does not appear to be purely opportunistic, it would have to be based on real substantive reasons. What justifies it from a public interest point of view? The results of the five-year reform period? And which ones? Its effective assessment on the moralization of public life, on the control of migration, security, public debt, deficits, foreign trade, the state of French industry, unemployment, poverty, social cohesion, health policy, freedoms and confidence in democracy? Spectacular positions on the deconstruction of the history of France, “the white male” or colonization as a “crime against humanity”? Is it really this assessment thata part of the “laremised” right intends to claim in the next electoral terms?

This new shock once again raises the question of the meaning of politics today.

Is it nothing more than a form of courtesy, an opportunist race for mandates, prebends and honors, or does it retain a share of commitment and conviction in the service of the general interest? ?

In truth, it is the whole question of the growing mistrust of the French in politics and the vertiginous rise of abstention or the so-called “anti-system” vote that is once again raised.