The enthusiasm of Eric Ciotti’s supporters after the launch of his new party

The president of the Republicans announced on Saturday the creation of the Union of the Right for the Republic during his political return, in his stronghold of the Alpes-Maritimes. 2,000 people were present for the occasion in Levens, in the hinterland of Nice.

Eric Ciotti announces the creation of a new political party: the UDR (Union of the Right for the Republic), an acronym deliberately inspired by the party created in 1967 to support General de Gaulle. Eric Ciotti, still president of the Republicans (LR), says he wants to bring together all the right-wing parties. The announcement was made during his political comeback in Levens in the Alpes-Maritimes.

The rumor had been circulating for several days. In front of 2,000 people gathered in a field in the Nice hinterland, Éric Ciotti announced that he was embarking on a new adventure. “In order to reconnect with victory, I propose today to rebuild our political family, he throws. I have a strong conviction: the Union of the Right for the Republic must establish itself permanently in the government of France and guide our political life. Yes, my friends, the UDR will be this great party of the right.”

With a tricolor flag behind him, Éric Ciotti attacks what he calls the single party, from the communists to the center right. He draws up the beginnings of a program, close to that of the RN: the end of the right of the soil, national preference or even double punishment for foreign offenders. But Éric Ciotti does not announce that he is leaving his former political family, yet in his sights. “The feathered hats of our authorities refused to consult the activists on this electoral agreement that I proposed to them. But why? To offer a crutch to a president at the end of his reign.”

In front of the stage, hundreds of activists share a buffet. Muriel works in cash transport and she welcomes Eric Ciotti’s announcement with great hope. “Uniting the right is great. The left did it well, why shouldn’t the right do it? Unity is strength!” When we remind this sympathizer that Eric Zemmour had also called for this union between the different parties of the right, the response is immediate: “Ah no, not Zemmour, he’s too far right.”

Michel, a retiree, is convinced that this new party will attract new voters.

“I think that there will inevitably be a migration of people who had gone to the RN and who will return to the Republicans.”

Michel, a supporter of Eric Ciotti

to franceinfo

Can Eric Ciotti keep his dual role? No, Michel replies. “I think he will leave LR. He can no longer stay there since he has been sidelined.” If the LR and Éric Ciotti do not quickly find an agreement, it will be the courts that will get involved: a hearing is scheduled for October 14.