one month before the election, LR candidate François-Xavier Bellamy wants to surf on national issues

The head of the LR list in the European elections François-Xavier Bellamy is stepping up against the agreement on pensions at the SNCF.

What is the connection between the European elections and the agreement on early retirement for railway workers concluded just before the Olympics at the SNCF? A priori, none. But François-Xavier Bellamy used it on Sunday May 12 on TF1 to accuse the government, and the National Rally, of “lie down in front of the unions”. By denouncing a “shame agreement” at the SNCF, the LR candidate, who is around 7% in the polls, would like to become “spokesperson for the silent majority”of “those who do not open it in the face of those who have the power to cause harm”, confides a relative.

It is for the same reason that François-Xavier Bellamy went to Sciences Po on May 7. The head of the LR list went to lend a hand to students tired of the blockages in support of Gaza. Far from the Europeans, the LR candidate offers himself a confrontation with the rebellious deputy Louis Boyard. The videos were widely circulated, arousing enthusiasm in his camp. “The sequence boosted the morale of the troops” slips an LR advisor.

LR turns to the news

If at the start of the campaign, François-Xavier Bellamy found it frustrating that we were not talking enough about concrete European issues, here he is investing in Franco-French debates. The boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau advised him to “ride the news”. Right-wing elected officials make this observation: “we are no longer audible for ourselves, we are no longer capable of making the news”. So to exist, we have to surf the national controversies of the moment.

However, tackling national issues does not mean that François-Xavier Bellamy will abandon European struggles. He presents his program Tuesday May 14. LR had planned to organize this in L’Haÿ-les-Roses, in Val de Marne. Here again, the link with the European elections is not immediately obvious. This is the commune of Vincent Jeanbrun, whose home was violently attacked during the riots last summer. Vincent Jeanbrun, who will be in last position on the list as “rear locomotive”, says a close friend of François-Xavier Bellamy, just to emphasize the fight against delinquency, dear to the right on the national scene. But LR will undoubtedly change its plans, because the program had to be presented outdoors, and the campaign team is afraid of the unpredictable weather. There are strategies to try to prevail in the debate, but countering bad weather is another matter.