A few weeks before their first big campaign meeting, on March 23 at the Docks d'Aubervilliers in Paris - where François-Xavier Bellamy went this Tuesday to scout the room of several thousand people - the Republican campaign for the European elections 'organized.
According to our information, the vice-president of the Ile-de-France region (and head of the Yvelines federation, one of the 3 largest) Othman Nasrou, 36, has just been appointed campaign director.
The choice was announced in a select committee on Tuesday at the Republican headquarters by Éric Ciotti in front of candidate François-Xavier Bellamy, Laurent Wauquiez, Olivier Marleix, Bruno Retailleau, Michel Barnier, Michele Tabarot and Othman Nasrou.
This choice was made a few days ago by mutual agreement between the candidate and the boss of LR.
“The appointment of Othman Nasrou as campaign director of our list for the European elections is excellent news,” confides Éric Ciotti, “he is a formidable grassroots elected official who embodies the renewal of our party.”
If at this stage, the list is not finalized – should we keep Nadine Morano and Brice Hortefeux in particular – the boss of LR intends to associate for the future LR list the renewal of profiles and experience, well-known and more anonymous personalities while maintaining a balance between territories.
“Alongside François-Xavier Bellamy, I know that Othman will put all his energy and talent into organizing this campaign.
He has all my confidence to make our ideas triumph.”
Also read “Your distress, we screamed for that”: Bellamy, Bardella and Maréchal want to harvest agricultural anger
If the polls left the Republicans well ahead of the RN and Renaissance lists, they nevertheless did not mark a collapse after the appointments of Gabriel Attal to Matignon and Rachida Dati to the Ministry of Culture.
Enough at this stage to rejoice LR which intends to capitalize on the profile of its candidate, outgoing deputy, and on the decline of the Renaissance list to convince disappointed right-wing voters to return.
“François-Xavier Bellamy is the only one who has a real record in the European Parliament on nuclear power, on food sovereignty, on the defense of our values,” argues Othman Nasrou.
A first campaign leaflet will also be distributed in the next few days – “The right that fights, it is France that wins” – looking back on the legislative successes obtained by François-Xavier Bellamy and his delegation in Parliament European.
With the objective of trying to find a place in the Le Pen – Macron and Bardella – Hayer duel.
“The games are more open than we think”
However, the campaign will be short to trigger a campaign dynamic: 100 days.
With a first debate on March 14 on Public Senate, in partnership with the daily newspapers of the Ebra group.
At the same time, the party will offer express training to activists on European issues, via video conference.
And will organize door-to-door operations targeted at polling stations deemed to be priorities.
“The games are more open than we think,” Othman Nasrou wants to believe.
Jordan Bardella has no record because he played empty chair politics in Brussels and Strasbourg.
Macronists voted against French interests on major issues such as agriculture and nuclear power.
I am betting on the intelligence of voters to create a nice surprise on June 9.”
That is more than the score of Valérie Pécresse in the last presidential election (4.78%) and of François-Xavier Bellamy in the last European elections (8.4% in 2019).