Jean-Christophe Lagarde, president of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) and deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis, was the guest of “8:30 am franceinfo”, Sunday, November 21. Vaccination against Covid-19, presidential … He answered questions from Jean-Jérôme Bertolus and Benjamin Fontaine.
For “advancing the vaccine” in Guadeloupe, it is “the conviction” and “not the baton that will allow it”, said Jean-Christophe Lagarde, while the Overseas region is facing violence, looting and blockages against a background of protest against the health pass and the vaccination obligation. The government has sent reinforcements to the island to deal with the violence. About fifty members of the GIGN and the Raid in addition to the 200 police officers and gendarmes already on site.
Jean-Christophe Lagarde sees in this dispute a translation of the lack of confidence of Guadeloupeans in the French state since the health scandal of chlordecone, an ultra-toxic pesticide used in banana plantations for more than 20 years from the beginning of the 1970s. “There is a state health disqualification stemming from the chlordecone case” which “poisoned farm workers”, he explains. According to him, Guadeloupeans say to themselves: “We no longer trust you. You poisoned us. You did not want to recognize it. You still do not compensate”.
The president of the UDI and deputy of the 5th district of Seine-Saint-Denis announced that“there will be no automatic support” centrists for the Republican candidate nominated for the presidential election in 2022. He also ruled out supporting Eric Ciotti if he is nominated by the militants.
From November 15, UDI centrists auditioned right-wing Congress of Republicans candidates for the presidential nomination. A grand oral in front of 300 elected officials accepted by Xavier Bertrand, Philippe Juvin and Valérie Pécresse, but not by Michel Barnier and Eric Ciotti. Jean-Christophe Lagarde pointed out the responsibility of the former chief negotiator of the European Union for Brexit: “If he is a candidate, he may have to ask himself questions. To be President of the Republic, you have to bring together, this is what Nicolas Sarkozy taught them, the right, the center and the remains. We must speak to the whole of France “, he explains.