A resolute tone, firm answers and a certain will.
This is the impression given by reading the long interview that Valérie Pécresse gives to the
JDD
on Sunday, just before facing the first major meeting of her campaign.
"
The French have to get to know me and it's up to me to convince them
", recognizes the candidate from the right, responding to all the criticisms heard during the week.
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Read alsoHow Valérie Pécresse wants to remobilize her camp
In this campaign, Valérie Pécresse sees herself as "
the woman to be killed
", targeted by her main rivals (Macronie, Zemmour, Le Pen).
“
But I tell everyone who shoots me in the back: I am a conqueror.
I have this strength in me
, ”she warns
On Éric Woerth, party to support Emmanuel Macron, the candidate notes that he changed his mind, assuring that he had issued the same criticisms as his on the state of public finances.
And when the ex-minister considers his project too regal, she believes that he has not read everything.
"
He had to stop at page 2
," she quips.
Asked about her own credibility on the issue of immigration, after the departure of Natacha Bouchart, LR mayor of Calais, who also left for Emmanuel Macron, Valérie Pécresse refers to the "
reality
" of a "
France sieve
" by defending her project of migratory quotas and the return of illegal immigrants.
She also says she is ready to help European countries who wish to “
build barriers or even walls
”, as she recently argued in Greece.
Sarkozy and the unity of the family
When the
JDD
asks her if she expected the blows to also come from Nicolas Sarkozy, in reference to comments published in
Le Figaro
at the end of the week, Valérie Pécresse responds briefly by judging the advice of the former president "
always useful
".
Then to add: “
But the unity of our family is also important.
I know he cares about that
."
The interview gives him the opportunity to define his project in three words: protect, rebuild and reinvent.
While "
freedom convoys
" are converging on Paris this weekend, she is committed to setting up a "
real referendum of popular initiative
" and hopes that the French "
no longer feel despised by power
".
To make them dream, she promises a "
liberated society
" through higher wages, work, purchasing power, decentralization, debureaucratization and innovation and undertakes to embody a "
courageous
" presidency.
“
In this campaign, I am the one who tells the truth
,” insists the candidate.
Criticizing the five-year “
zigzags
” of the outgoing president, she only puts “
a few good measures
” to her credit (labour law, duplication of CP classes and “
too late
” increase in the justice budget).
In addition, she criticizes Emmanuel Macron for making "
checks without funds
" at the end of his mandate.
“
Behind these checks, there is debt.
And behind the debt, there are taxes
,” she blames.
“
He is afraid
”
Finally, credited with 15% to 16% of the voting intentions, Valérie Pécresse explains the false dish of her campaign, two months before the first round, by the absence of a declared candidacy from Emmanuel Macron.
“
The violence of the attacks shows that he is afraid of a face-to-face with me
”, she argues, promising to make a difference “
when the day comes
”.
And when Eric Zemmour nicknames her "
8:02 p.m.
" to denounce what she will do on the evening of the first round if she were to call to vote Emmanuel Macron, Valérie Pécresse ignores this issue by promising to be present in the second round.
On the other hand, she hopes that the candidate of "
Reconquest
" will vote for her at "
8:01 p.m.
" to turn the "
Macron page
".
Valérie Pécresse, who does not want to be taken for a “
partridge of the year
” faced with the harshness of the campaign, also tells how she forged a “
fighter
” temperament.
"
I was so exposed in this environment of men to violence, machismo, and attacks that I have thick leather
," says the candidate from the right.
Protected by an “
armour
”, Valérie Pécresse wishes to split it today, to reveal her “
share of humanity
”, while remaining “
modest
”.
