We know the names of the five candidates under the presidential majority label for the legislative elections, the last of whom is named Benoît Bordat, candidate for the second constituency of Côte d’Or.
A third salvo of candidates invested by the presidential majority for the legislative elections was unveiled on Sunday 8 May. Among them: Benoît Bordat, departmental councilor of the Côte d’Or, deputy mayor of Dijon, and former member of Corinne Lepage’s environmentalist party, Cap21.
We expected to see François Deseille for the MoDem, Jean-Philippe Morel for the radicals, or even Ludovic Rochette from the party of Édouard Philippe, but you are the one chosen. First simple question: why do you think?
I was simply contacted by the Progressive Federation, a new movement which joins the presidential majority with François Rebsamen. I had also said that I could be available given the situation of what we experienced in the presidential election, with the presence of Marine Le Pen in the second round and that it was a constituency that I knew well and on which I could be available.
Precisely, is it your proximity to François Rebsamen who also played? It was he who whispered your name to Emmanuel Macron?
He blew my name, but I’m recognized locally. I won the departmental elections in the canton of Dijon-4, which is part of the second constituency. I have been doing field work for a number of years, meeting everyone. I think I’m known for that. You said it, I am a deputy, I am in charge of veterans and memory. These are subjects that are close to my heart. In the metropolis, I take care of the subjects of agriculture and viticulture. And then, through my professional past where I worked in a consular chamber with farmers. This is a riding that is both rural and urban and in which I am very comfortable and which interests me a lot.
One cannot also prevent oneself from seeing the political calculations, even politicians. Is it also somewhere to block Catherine Hervieu among the ecologists that you were chosen?
I will be very clear. I’m here to block anyone. I am here to carry the rally on behalf of the presidential majority. A broad gathering on a common base. I have a number of values. I am deeply European, attached to the values of secularism and I am here to recognize the work that has been carried out for more than three years, quite significantly by the presidential majority to deal with the health crisis and the crisis in Ukraine. And then gather in the face of blocks that go to the extremes.
Precisely, you supported the candidacy of the ecologist Yannick Jadot in the last presidential election. It’s true that you no longer support environmentalists today. Only Emmanuel Macron can save the environment?
Speaker 3: Me, I had the possibility, as a departmental adviser, to sponsor a candidate. I had the pleasure of sponsoring Yannick Jadot because there is an expectation, especially among young people, in certain neighborhoods, in certain cities, to speed up the ecological and energy transition. It is an expectation that is very strong, we cannot deny it. Between the two rounds, Emmanuel Macron had very strong speeches and proposals. At the Marseille congress, he made a very clear appeal to the ecologists and I think that today we no longer have a choice. It goes quickly and if we want to defend ecology, it is in the majority. It is not in an opposition that we will defend ecology, that we will make things move forward. Today, I take on this responsibility, I roll up my sleeves and tell myself we have to go, we have to move things forward.
But do you believe in his speech? Because we can also say that it is positioning to recover voices from the left…
He has kept programmatic commitments, he has a majority, he carries a new majority. It will be up to this majority, to its deputies, to relay and support a certain number of proposals in favor of the ecological and energy transition.
You believe in it ? It should start with the appointment of a government, a Prime Minister who is in touch with your ideas…
It is mentioned, it is in question. Well, he will make his decisions next week. But in any case, there are environmentalists in his government, there are, so we have to move things forward. And I am a responsible, pragmatic ecologist. I am also for the balanced development of territories, for the support of our agriculture. I watched the news. We have major drought problems. The government will release an additional 20 million euros. It is a very good thing.
What do you think are the priorities for this constituency, the second in Côte-d’Or, which is both urban with three cantons from Dijon, but also very rural with the cantons of Mirebeau and Pontailler-sur-Saône?
Already, there is a first thing on which I am committed, it is the alliance of the territories. We need to bring rural and urban people together. We must not spend our time dividing them, opposing them. The second thing is that we have interesting structures in this riding. There are therefore a certain number of subjects on health, on the presence of doctors, on the commitments of Emmanuel Macron which are important in this sense. I am also thinking about security issues. We are lucky to have the barracks of Flandres, which will deserve a renovation. And that is a file that I will support, that I will carry strongly.