“We
must be in a dynamic of unity, today most of the small lists are laminated
,” urges Philippe Folliot, senator (Centrist Union) of Tarn and head of the Ruralities list, the future in the right direction. In a press release dated March 27, the candidate announced a rapprochement with Jean-Christophe Fromantin, mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine) and leader of the Notre Europe list. This Tuesday, the two men must ratify the merger of their lists in view of the vote on June 9.
“The symbolism is strong, me, in the heart of the Tarn mountains who agree with the mayor of Neuilly on subjects relating to Europe
,” adds the senator. To lead the battle, the two men wish to entrust the head of the list to Gilles Mentré, elected from the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
The goal of this list?
“We are in this idea of reconciling scales starting from territories”
, explains Jean-Christophe Fromantin who began, at the end of 2023, a crossing of France by linking Nantes to Strasbourg by bike, a way of
“starting from below”
and to counter the
“crisis of verticality”
from which France is suffering. The three men share an observation, “
the disconnection of territories and Europe”
.
“It is not embodied by anyone, it is not at all within reach while people see that, on many subjects, there is a European prism which intervenes,”
continues the mayor of Neuilly.
May 18, deadline for submitting lists
To remedy this problem, the three elected officials wish in particular to require MEPs to have a local mandate. “
81 MEPs, that’s almost one MEP per department. He's the one you go to see when you have a problem. This would radically change the relationship with Europe
,” enthuses Gilles Mentré.
If they agree on the observation, the trio is also aware of an imperative for results. For the moment, in the polls, no
“small list”
exceeds 1% of voting intentions. To hope to reach the 5% mark, allowing elected officials to be sent to Brussels, the collective hopes to garner new support.
“We want to create a dynamic of uniting centrists with a list made up of 100% local elected officials
,” explains Gilles Mentré.
“This is only a first step, the objective is not to form a closed alliance”
agrees Philippe Folliot.
While the deadline for the official submission of lists approaches (May 18), behind the scenes, negotiations continue. Elected officials from the Utiles association, a movement created by certain deputies from the pivotal Liot group, are considering joining forces with this initiative.
“We are completely in agreement with going to the European elections, in an alliance going from the center right to the center left, including the territories, overseas territories and diversity. We continue to discuss with Gilles Mentré so that with Utilis we can form a central alliance
,” confided Sunday evening to Le
Figaro
Olivier Serva, Liot deputy from Guadeloupe and secretary general of Utilis. Building on this probable rallying, Gilles Mentré launches an appeal “
to all other centrist forces
” part of this great current of the fathers of Europe, pro-European and decentralizing.