With Damien Abad, it is a singular personality of the National Assembly and a war prize who enters the government of Élisabeth Borne.
By winning, at 42, the portfolio of Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and People with Disabilities, the former president of the group Les Républicains fills an impatience, at the risk of contradicting the strong criticisms he had expressed to the regard to Emmanuel Macron.
We remember in particular his attacks denouncing the “
disconnection
” of the President of the Republic with the realities of the country.
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Overall, President Abad's work within the group since 2019 has been rather appreciated, even if suspicions of Macron-compatibility have always weighed on his profile as an elected representative from the center.
Marked by his physical handicap (a congenital arthrogryposis), he is sometimes praised for his “
courage
” and his “
tenacity
”, sometimes blamed for his “
ambition
”.
Seeing him leave for the competition, the disappointment is great at LR.
"
Objectively, he did the job as president but, when you hold such a position, letting go of the LR deputies on the eve of the legislative elections, it may be political game but it's filthy
", grumbles an observer.
The accused denies this today in the name of "
coherence
of a personal political line that he no longer believes is compatible with that of an LR party that has become too right-wing in his eyes.
“How not to understand Damien Abad!
I made the same decision in 2018
”, reacted the former minister Dominique Bussereau, deploring the distance of the right from the current of
“centrists, liberals, Europeans of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing
”.
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Damien Abad had taken the light by comfortably reaching the head of the LR group, supported by 64 parliamentarians out of 104. The deputy for Ain, born in Nîmes in the Gard, began his career in 2006 with the box of parliamentary groups for the UDF and the New Center.
He even tried Yvelines the following year (3.17%), before creating the Young Centrists movement.
In 2015, after having sat on various commissions of the Rhône-Alpes regional council, he won the presidency of the departmental council of Ain, which he let go two years later, not being able to combine this mandate with a seat as a deputy. .
Having joined the UMP in 2012, Damien Abad will successively support Bruno Le Maire during the primary of the right and the center (2016),
François Fillon (for whom he was the spokesperson during the presidential election in 2017), Laurent Wauquiez (congress 2017) then Xavier Bertrand (congress 2022).
He then lined up behind Valérie Pécresse during the presidential campaign and finally put himself "
on leave
” from the LR party this week, saying he was “
closer to Macron’s right than to that of Zemmour
”.
An LR deputy, who criticizes him for “
never having clearly assumed his centrism
” by regretting a “
lack of vigilance
” at Les Républicains, summarizes his trajectory on the lands of the right.
“He managed his presidency of the group with a certain skill but without a political background.
Attentive on a human level, he never managed to lay down a clear line.
And even if he sometimes hit hard on Macron to give pledges, he too often found excuses not to oppose his policy.
This is why his departure today is not a surprise
”.
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