Le Figaro Nantes
The eye of the storm is focused on the Pays de la Loire.
It has been four days since Christelle Morançais, president of the regional council, announced that she was joining Horizons, the party of Édouard Philippe, praising on Sunday the
“right of assembly”
that the former prime minister would be
“the only one to embody”
.
A way to get out of the woods by razing the forest.
Appointed regional president following the withdrawal in 2017 of Bruno Retailleau, overtaken by the non-cumulative mandates, the unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Le Mans then for deputy of Sarthe had returned her Republican (LR) card in 2022 , five months after the re-election of Emmanuel Macron.
The epilogue of his defection hardly surprised the region's elected officials.
It nevertheless leaves a strange atmosphere in the local political class.
Bruno Retailleau thus has particular bitterness.
The president of the LR group in the Senate had offered Christelle Morançais a place of choice on his list in the 2015 regional elections, then had supported her campaign - still under the Les Républicains label - during the 2021 election. Since then, his former protégé has gone see elsewhere.
“His decision is personal and without surprise.
I regret it, because I consider that vis-à-vis voters, it is better to show color before than after the elections,”
he declared to Le
Figaro
.
Fog on the horizon
At the regional council, last weekend's announcement is presented as
"a non-subject".
LR elected officials prefer to bury their heads in the sand, or - at most - question the attractiveness of a party crushed by the last presidential elections.
The membership of Christelle Morançais in Horizons also appears to embarrass the conservative opposition of Nantes and Loire-Atlantique, who are tight-lipped about the change of label of their regional ally.
“Those close to Morançais, from the historic channel of the Republicans and the UMP, have certainly had to swallow several snakes for two years…”
, nevertheless analyzes a right-wing elected official.
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The new political coloring of the presidency of Pays de la Loire, on the other hand, revives the five elected officials of the Democratic and Progressive group, which brings together the elected officials of the presidential majority.
Led by the former president of the National Assembly François de Rugy, the group has been playing the game since 2021 of constructive opposition with the majority.
Everyone hopes to gain from the change, and find themselves more closely associated with certain issues.
“We are delighted that Christelle Morançais is joining our ranks.
However, she must clarify her political position, because if we are not systematically against the majority, we would like to know if we can be with it,”
indicates Horizons regional advisor Éric Frémy, who was due to meet Édouard Philippe in the coming days to take stock of the situation.
The prospect of an expansion of the regional majority is, however, not without risks.
“We will remain vigilant so that the line and perimeter of the regional majority remain constant in relation to the political project defended during the last elections
,” warns Bruno Retailleau.
The hypothesis makes the left opposition boil.
“The 2021 election is clear: voters do not want a pro-government majority in the Pays de la Loire,”
observes regional councilor Sabine Lalande (LFI), who invites Christelle Morançais to put her mandate back into play or to resign.
More pragmatic, the socialist Guillaume Garot would prefer to see this
“opportunistic betrayal of voters”
be submitted to a vote of confidence at the next meeting of the regional council, on March 27.
“
It owes this democratic clarification to the citizens;
and this will also make it possible to verify who is in the majority today… as well as in the opposition,”
he says.
Fog on the horizon.