Failing to agree on their new boss, the right has found a common passion. For the past few months, Les Républicains have not stopped knocking down Nicolas Sarkozy. Last burst to date, this Monday, in a vitriolic forum published by l’Express. Senator Bruno Retailleau, former deputy Julien Aubert and MEP François-Xavier Bellamy thrash the five-year term of “renunciation” and “denial” of the former President of the Republic. “The right had promised the break, it took half measures,” they write.
But the leader of the right in the Senate is not the only candidate for president of the party to leave the box of slaps. Eric Ciotti and Aurélien Pradié have both called for a “break” with the former boss of the French right. How to explain these attacks, unimaginable a few months ago?
Too close to Emmanuel Macron
The gap between the right and the former president continued to widen during the presidential campaign. The right desperately waited for a sign from its former mentor, but Nicolas Sarkozy finally refused to support Valérie Pécresse before the first round. Her name was even whistled by activists, to the amazement of many executives, during the last meeting of the candidate in Paris. The untouchable totem has been hit for the first time. He wavers a little more when Nicolas Sarkozy pushes behind the scenes to find an agreement with Emmanuel Macron during the legislative elections. A strategy quickly swept away by his former party.
“Something broke during the presidential election. This was simmering among activists who did not understand his closeness to Emmanuel Macron. At first people didn’t believe it, they said to themselves: not our Sarko! Because the strong point of Sarkozyism was the affirmation of what the real right is, assures Julien Aubert, support of Bruno Retailleau. His wish for an alliance with Macron was a red line, he lost a lot of audience. His support for candidates from the presidential camp during the legislative elections this summer, in the Alpes-Maritimes or in Paris, were also experienced as “betrayals” within the Republicans.
A loss of influence at LR
His withdrawal from political life and his estrangement from the Republicans (of which he is however still a member) led to an inexorable loss of influence within his former family. His desire for an alliance with the Macronists was not supported by almost any LR executive. “Some may consult him, but he no longer has any influence on the party, those who refer to him or his record have no imagination. Sarkozy is a former president, a retiree from politics, it is no longer a subject, ”slices MP Pierre-Henri Dumont, support of Aurélien Pradié for the LR presidency.
A loss of influence that soon leads him to the exit? Asked about the fact that Nicolas Sarkozy could leave LR if he were elected president, Bruno Retailleau replied strongly, on October 4, on Europe 1. “I will tell you a secret: if I am elected and if Nicolas Sarkozy wishes to leave LR , let him do it. I won’t hold it back.”
A campaign argument
The criticisms are, of course, no stranger to the internal campaign, which is to appoint a new leader in early December. The shootings against Sarkozy are a means of emancipating oneself from the disappointments of the right or of staging the revival with the members. “His five-year term did not make it possible to abolish certain markers on the left, such as the 35 hours. And his European mini-treaty was experienced as a betrayal for those who had voted no in the European referendum two years earlier, ”says Julien Aubert. “Keeping Sarkozy as a reference means keeping a model from 20 years ago. It is useless to dwell on the past, who cares. It’s another era, today we have 89 RN deputies, a world at war, an ecological crisis, a political bipolarity that has shattered. We have to reinvent ourselves,” argues Pierre-Henri Dumont.
But the person concerned kept some weapons within the party. His traditional gun carriers have responded in recent days, like Rachida Dati. “Even if he disappointed some activists, he keeps an aura on the right, we cannot sweep away what his mandate has brought to France”, replies, cautious, the deputy Eric Pauget, support of Eric Ciotti. The latter has also surrounded himself with followers of the former president for his campaign, such as Nadine Morano or Brice Hortefeux. The deputy of Nice also took care to moderate his remarks against the former president, this Wednesday. Sign that it is better not to offend with the former godfather of the right? Arnaud Julien, LR departmental secretary of Hérault, summarizes: “Many activists keep a part of affection for him and do not forget that he made us vibrate for years. It is not by attacking that we will rebuild the right ”.