They arrived one after the other, with the smiles of children preparing a prank for adults. Tuesday, June 21, was back to school day for the newly elected deputies of the Les Républicains (LR) party. The moment of the transition to the offensive for the young guard, who wishes to overthrow the table in a party that they find sclerotic by the omnipresence of their past glories. It is at the Bourbon, the emblematic brasserie where the elected members of the National Assembly regularly go, that the deputies Julien Dive (Aisne), Pierre-Henri Dumont (Pas-de-Calais), Raphaël Schellenberger (Haut-Rhin), but also Fabien Di Filippo (Moselle) and Virginie Duby-Muller (Haute-Savoie) therefore met to choose which of them would run for the presidency of the right-wing group.
For an hour and a half, in the basement of this old cafe where the telephone network does not pass, they reviewed each other. Measuring the qualities and faults of each of them, in order to determine which would be best placed to win the support of his fellow deputies. After much thought, a name came out of the hat: it will be Julien Dive, elected from a rural area, close to the president of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand. The hopes of this youth eager for change rest on its ability to convince and not to divide. Julien Dive will have to face Olivier Marleix, deputy for Eure-et-Loir, whose candidacy is supported by Michèle Tabarot (Alpes-Maritimes), who was also rumored to be on the starting line. “I have the impression that he is very clear about his positions”she said at the end of the day, shortly before the closing date for applications.
The vote took place on Wednesday morning, by secret ballot. Beforehand, the candidates will have lent themselves to a great oral, which could convince the last undecided. By aiming for the head of the group, the young guard wishes to imprint a new style on the National Assembly, but also on the party. First, thanks to a renewal of faces. Many of them say it and repeat it, they have «Take» to be represented on television sets and on the public scene in general by the same old glories, who, according to them, no longer represent the right today. And above all, who do not always share their opinions.
In their sights: the former interior minister of Nicolas Sarkozy Brice Hortefeux, the European deputy Nadine Morano or the mayor of Meaux, Jean-François Copé. At one, they blame his affinity with Eric Zemmour. At the city council of Seine-et-Marne, they do not forgive his speeches in favor of a coalition with Emmanuel Macron. Then they want to revive the right with new ideas. All claim it: their family will have to work on the merits to be noticed and to avoid disappearing.
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