“The strength of the Renaissance party is to be able to take everyone into consideration and not just the feathered leaders“, assures this Saturday on franceinfo its spokesperson Prisca Thévenot, in full convention of the executives of the party which will succeed La République en Marche. “Beyond the tenors, there is a plurality of activists, executives and elected officials.”
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franceinfo: Is it a problem that Emmanuel Macron cannot represent himself at the end of his second term?
Prisca Thevenot : There is no problem with the functioning of our democracy because we must precisely protect and defend it in the context in which we are today in France. We must regain our spirit of conquest. The political context is complicated, we must hear what was expressed during the last elections, and certain common values are now being questioned, such as scientific truth. Today, we see that it is gangrenous by conspiracy theories which interfere in the entirety of the debates.
Isn’t there a risk of fratricidal clashes to take the lead of this new party?
Today, the subject of the presidential majority day in Metz is not a question of anyone. Because when it comes to people, yes, we get into fights. Here, it is rather a question of values and therefore of debate. We must be able to reinvent ourselves. Today we are moving from a movement to a party. The movement allowed us to trigger a dynamic in 2017 and this dynamic must be able to be anchored in a party, in the territories.
Emmanuel Macron is obviously not present because of his functions but to believe that he does not participate in the discussions…
Emmanuel Macron is not absent. He is more present than ever. Let’s not forget, we were brought together in 2016 by the project of Emmanuel Macron at the time candidate then president. He is present, not only for us, but for all French people since, let us remember, he is more than a leader of the political movement, he is above all a head of nation.
What will still be left within Renaissance while Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin will be the probable tenors of this future party?
It’s funny that you ask this question to me who is on the left. So yes, I am not Gérald Darmanin or Bruno Le Maire, but I think we must not forget that beyond the tenors, there is a plurality of activists, executives and elected officials. The strength of the Renaissance party is to be able to take everyone into consideration and not just feathered leaders. Yes, they give us a direction and they are driving forces, but they are not unique in this collective and fundamentally humanist approach.
What will be the political line of Renaissance?
It is that of 2016 which is oriented around four main themes which are freedom, progress, of course the Republic and even more strongly than before, Europe.