“It’s a mistake to choose the words of your opponents”

Valérie Pécresse had announced a big meeting of the revival, but the candidate of the Republicans especially harvested a controversy. Beyond the form of the speech, itself criticized, his meeting at the Zénith de Paris, Sunday February 13, raised substantive questions because of the use of certain expressions from the rhetoric of the far right such as than “Paper French”, “areas of non-France” or “great replacement”.

>> Presidential: Valérie Pécresse takes up the far-right theory of “great replacement” and reaps a controversy

The “great replacement” theory, popularized by writer Renaud Camus, imagines an elite-driven plot to replace “the people” of France with another people. This concept with racist and xenophobic overtones has been defended since the start of the campaign by far-right candidate Eric Zemmour. The use of this expression in Valérie Pécresse’s speech therefore drew attention, but the right-wing candidate was surprised by the controversy, recalling that she had already used the same words several times during the campaign. for the Republican nomination.

“It means that I do not resign myself precisely to the theories of Eric Zemmour and the theories of the extreme right, because I know that another way is possible.”

Valerie Pécresse

on RTL

Relaunched on the reality of this “great replacement”, the candidate of the Republicans does not refute the existence of this phenomenon: “There are areas of non-France today in France, but I am not resigned to this great replacement.”

The candidate’s entourage spent part of Monday clearing up the controversy. “We don’t have to choose between the excesses of Eric Zemmour and the migratory bankruptcy of Emmanuel Macron. Yes, there is a migratory bankruptcy, but no, we are not giving in to the conspiracy theory”assures franceinfo Othman Nasrou, one of the spokespersons for the candidate. “She refuted this theory”, completes MEP Agnès Evren on RFI. But the text explanations did not prevent part of the moderate right from worrying.

“I have no doubt that she is perfectly in the Republican values, but I think it is always a mistake to use the words of her opponents, even if it is to condemn these words”confides to franceinfo Jean-Christophe Lagarde, president of the UDI and deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis. “I think it’s a mistake to always take the opponent’s vocabulary, it’s something she shouldn’t have done”abounds the former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin on franceinfo.

“Valérie Pécresse is better than this speech. I think she was badly advised on rhetoric.”

Jean-Pierre Raffarin

on franceinfo

Doubts also expressed internally by several LR tenors during the weekly strategic meeting on Monday morning at the campaign headquarters of Valérie Pécresse. “We must clarify, say that the ‘great replacement’ is not us”would have launched Xavier Bertrand, according to information from the political service of France Télévisions. “It is not a candidate of synthesis who can win, it is a candidate of convictions! I want to find the Pécresse of the congress!“

The former primary candidate, Philippe Juvin, present at the meeting, confirms the exchange on the expression “great replacement”, but assures that it is a simple discussion in order to take stock of the campaign . “It’s reported in the press as an opposition, an ultimatum from Copé and Bertrand, but that’s not what happened. It was just a presentation by Bertrand and Copé on how to present things in the campaign.”

“I really think that we are giving him a bad trial. We will never make an alliance with Zemmour and we do not agree on the substance.”

Philippe Juvin, adviser to Valérie Pécresse

at franceinfo

We must not neglect the tactical positioning of the Pécresse camp which monitors the Zemmour threat in the polls. For several members of her entourage, if Valérie Pécresse used the term “great replacement” in his speech, it is above all to exist in this campaign more marked, according to them, by small sentences than ideas. A strategy assumed in off by his camp. “I recognize that perhaps she should not have used this expression, it is a bit awkward”analyzes a framework of the campaign.

“But at the same time, if you want to hook the media today and climb in the polls, unfortunately you have to be outrageous.”

A member of Valérie Pécresse’s campaign team

at franceinfo

“That’s exactly what Eric Zemmour does all the way through meetings and even Emmanuel Macron when he says he wants to ‘piss the French off’ on vaccination”he adds.

If the tenors of the party thus evoke for the most part a “non-event”mocking like Brice Hortefeux “elected officials who want to be talked about” or ironically like Senator Gérard Longuet on “the hyper-sensitives of our political family”, voices take the opportunity, on the other hand, to denounce the behavior of Xavier Bertrand. According to several lieutenants of Valérie Pécresse, the president of the Hauts-de-France region has still not digested his defeat at the Republican congress. “Xavier Bertrand sucks since he lost, everyone knows it. He has a lot of nice facades like that in public, but behind the back, he actually knocks everything out”assures a member of the close guard of the presidential candidate.

“Bertrand spends a lot more time creating pitfalls than helping our candidate.”

A member of Valérie Pécresse’s campaign team

at franceinfo

In the entourage of Valérie Pécresse, others also criticize the lack of investment of his former rival and his teams in the campaign. “Team Bertrand is very solitary and plays the game much less than the teams of Eric Ciotti, Michel Barnier and Philippe Juvin”they tackle.

The controversy over the “great replacement” seems to once again highlight the divisions at Les Républicains. Lhe president of the Ile-de-France region is thus forced to deal with a moderate right and a more radical current embodied by Eric Ciotti.

“The problem is that she tries to hold the two tendencies of the right-wing electorate, which are perhaps incompatible.”

Brice Teinturier, Deputy CEO of Ipsos

at AFP

For the sounder, “It is an extremely complicated objective, which leads to a permanent large gap, hence situations which create ambiguity.”

A lack of political benchmarks which worries Jean-François Copé. “I told her to be herself and to get out of the temptation of wanting to please all the political currents that pass through her office., confides the mayor of Meaux to franceinfo. It must assume its uninhibited right-wing position, which is a tight right with the far right, which allows it to assume its positions in the fight against Islamism and extremism…”

Senator LR de la Manche Philippe Bas is trying to calm things down. “It is very healthy that the members of the campaign can express themselves, because if this were not the case, it would no longer be useful. Valérie Pécresse will summarize everything that has been said to her and she will continue to embody this republican right that our country needs so much today”, he assures. But a party executive recognizes half-words that the divisions are much deeper and are not only linked to the last meeting of his candidate.