What is the difference between an LR and another LR? Not really differences, but rather nuances. The young deputy of Lot, Aurélien Pradié, who declared his candidacy on Tuesday September 13 in Le Figaro, is thus the bearer of a sensitivity, let’s say a little more social. He thus tries to distance himself from the duel engaged within the right wing of the party between the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes, Eric Ciotti, particularly firm on the questions of security and immigration; and the senator from Vendée, Bruno Retailleau, more conservative on societal issues. But in total, all three are supporters of an uncompromising opposition to Emmanuel Macron.
>> Changes of leaders, names… Are French political parties still useful?
As for the strategy towards the National Rally, there too, officially, they are unanimous: no question of allying with the extreme right. Except that by dint of falling back on an increasingly radical square, the Republicans are showing themselves to be more lenient towards Marine Le Pen. They do not join it, not yet, of course, but they no longer fight it. This is what could be called the “Ciottisation” of the minds of the right. Last year, Eric Ciotti explained that what differentiated LR from RN was “the ability to govern from the right. No more differences in nature or values, just a matter of experience in a way…
The fact remains that the RN is gaining experience in the National Assembly. And that changes everything. It still goes without saying that Marine Le Pen won five times more votes than Valérie Pécresse in the presidential election. But above all, the RN has become the leading opposition group at the Palais-Bourbon with 89 deputies against only 62 seats saved by LR. The far right keeps a low profile, pretends to be a reasonable, constructive opposition… and it is the weakened right that finds itself in the position of auxiliary.
An inversion of the balance of power found elsewhere in Europe. In Sweden, the far-right party, the New Democrats, is at the gates of power after joining forces with the conservative party, which it largely outstripped. In Italy, it is the leader of the post-fascist party Fratelli d’Italia, Giorgia Meloni, who is the favorite of the legislative elections of September 25, at the head of a coalition where the classic right now plays only one subordinate role. And this is undoubtedly the main issue that weighs on the future of LR: by dint of sparing Marine Le Pen, and concentrating its arrows against Emmanuel Macron, how long the French right, weakened, will still resist before abandoning himself to the extreme right?