Pension reform tore Republicans apart; the right sinks into crisis, and Laurent Wauquiez breaks the silence
The president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region grants a long interview to our colleagues from the weekly Point (article reserved for subscribers). It must be said that there was urgency. His disappearance throughout the social crisis angered the right, including LR boss Eric Ciotti, who had inducted him as a natural candidate for 2027 last fall. Eric Ciotti and the president of the group of LR deputies, Olivier Marleix, waited in vain for a helping hand from Laurent Wauquiez, officially in favor of the reform, when they tried to convince the LR deputies to approve it. Worse, several deputies from his region voted for the motion of censure.
The episode further cemented his “hidden” reputation within his own camp. And some have even begun to doubt his determination for the presidency. Laurent Wauquiez, however, clearly still intends to run in 2027.
The outlines of a very right-wing project
Throughout this interview, he sketches the outlines of a project rooted very far to the right. He wants to fight “the ideology of deconstruction” which plunges the country into “decadence”. It is a question of restoring a strong power which gives itself a free hand by removing independent authorities such as Arcom, which regulates the media, ANSES, which governs health security, or the National Commission for IT and Freedoms (Cnil) . And lay hands on “the politicized administration” who happened “autonomous from politics”what he calls “deep state” who rules the country.
Does this remind you of anything? It’s just Trump. A kind of populism, well-mannered but authoritarian, which also corresponds to the policy that Laurent Wauquiez leads in his region, for example by removing subsidies to associations and cultural institutions that dare to criticize his choices.
But it is not sure that this project can bring together right-wing voters. He could even increase the contingents of the moderate and pro-European right which rallied Emmanuel Macron and Edouard Philippe. Laurent Wauquiez dreams of getting them back and says he is convinced that the presidential election will be played out between Marine Le Pen and him. For the time being, the far-right candidate peaks above 30% in the polls and her far-right challenger peaks around 5%.