It all started with an initiative by Olivier Marleix, deputy Les Républicains, who sent a text to his colleagues at the start of the week. The title : “We are not for sale.“This grandstand project therefore aims to dispel a rumor according to which “the LR deputies could in large numbers be tempted to join a government coalition behind Emmanuel Macron.”
“We want to be clear, determined, unequivocal so that no form of ambiguity remains“warns this text, which franceinfo consulted. “Our project, that of Valérie Pécresse, has absolutely nothing to do with that of Macron”, writes Olivier Marleix. The elected official is very virulent towards a president “without conviction, which comes to seek on the right the ideas which it lacks.“Except that this text, the French will never see it. Because it unleashed a storm in the LR ranks, some of the deputies refusing to sign it.
Two versions clash. Some explain that they were embarrassed by the fact that only Emmanuel Macron was mentioned, whom the tribune did not reject “at the same time“Any alliance with Eric Zemmour or Marine Le Pen. For Olivier Marleix and his friends, this embarrassment rather masks the very real temptation, of some, to go with arms and luggage to En Marche. To calm things down, Damien Abad, president of group, proposes a rewrite.”This platform is made to defend our candidate and show our unity behind herhe pleads. It only makes sense if everyone has co-signed it. Otherwise the only thing retained will be our division and therefore no interest in publishing it.”
Here again, part of the group turns against each other. A platform of support for Valérie Pécresse? This is not enough: we must explicitly rule out any rapprochement with Emmanuel Macron. Damien Abad proposes this sentence: “We are soluble neither in the majority embodied by Emmanuel Macron nor in the far right embodied by Madame Le Pen and Monsieur Zemmour”. The text is softened, the title – “We are not for sale” – is modified. And the new version is published this Thursday morning by Le Figaro.
Ten days before the first round, this forum is not just for voters. A right-wing communicator confirms this: the hidden recipient is Nicolas Sarkozy, who has still not said that he supported Valérie Pécresse. And who will not be present at his meeting this weekend.
The right suspects the former president of preparing an initiative between the two towers to offer Emmanuel Macron a cohabitation with the right. If he does, the Republicans want to be able to say: he only represents himself, since our deputies have already ruled out the hypothesis. “Someone who has signed the platform cannot claim to join the Macronist ranks in ten days”, welcomes an elected official.