Laurent Wauquiez goes second: in a speech in Valence on Sunday, the president (LR) of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region specifies his intentions for 2027, without officially declaring himself a presidential candidate.
It is a semi-declaration of candidacy for the next presidential election that Laurent Wauquiez delivered, during his speech, delivered on Sunday October 1 during the start of the Young Republicans, in Valence, in Drôme.
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More than 500 people listened to him reaffirm his determination for 2027: “We must dare to imagine a new model. We have to turn the table. And, make no mistake, this is what I will devote all my energy to, to lead you once again towards great collective success,” he said, adding a few minutes later: “I’m ready !”
Laurent Wauquiez came to keep these young activists impatient to launch into the electoral battle, explaining why he rarely speaks in the media: “From picrocholine controversies to feigned indignation, the collapse of politics has made us lose sight of the essential: the long term, the common destiny.”
“What you need is not politicians who talk more, but politicians who will act better.”
Laurent Wauquiezduring his speech in Valencia
This does not prevent the regional president from addressing a few barbs aimed at the current government, and at the future candidate of the majority: Laurent Wauquiez speaks of “clone of the president who wants to replay 2017 and represent the “circle of reason” with the sole purpose of blocking “populism“”. However, we do not know whether he is referring to Edouard Philippe or Gérald Darmanin, for example.
The “France of happy regions”
His speech almost resembles a general policy speech. Laurent Wauquiez presents himself as the one who anticipated several phenomena: the abuses of assistance linked to the RSA, communitarianism and the burkini, the waste of public money, while he believes he is rectifying the accounts in his region.
Laurent Wauquiez promises to restore “order and authority“but also of”give back a breath, a vision” in the country. Thus, he develops the concept of “France of happy regions“: for him, it’s about “let the country breathe, and stop imposing everything from Paris, which exhausts the French, by dint of being corseted by norms and rules“.
He refers in particular to the “zero net artificialization” system, which prevents local elected officials from building. The regional president indicated that he wanted out. Laurent Wauquiez also ends his speech with a passage on “environmental patriotism”. A speech very appreciated by the young LR activists, who leave motivated and ready to launch the Wauquiez campaign as soon as their candidate gives the starting signal.