Xavier Bertrand presents, on October 1, the birth of his new movement, called Nous France. He explains that this collective will hold high the values it defends, namely “territories”, “the middle classes” and “authority”.
Would Xavier Bertrand go back to the national scene? It is on the boards of the Jean-Vilar theater in Saint-Quentin, just opposite the town hall which he occupied from 2010 to 2016, that the elected official presents this 1er October his new movement We France. The current president of the Hauts-de-France region explains the reasons that led him to form this new collective (see video above).
How should we qualify We France: movement, party, micro-party? What will it be used for?
Xavier-Bertrand : It is a movement. It is to both carry and relay the ideas in which I believe – authority, work, territories – and above all, having a collective with me. This is perhaps what I missed in the past to relay my ideas, particularly in favor of purchasing power for the middle classes. Today, we are 1200 people over the whole weekend – several dozen parliamentarians, several hundred elected – and we very clearly get to work. There are workshops that meet on all subjects to present a new social project, but not only.
We heard this morning about “change of political software”. What does it mean ?
Xavier-Bertrand : There are fewer people in the parties. Fewer and fewer people who vote. What do we do ? Are we waiting to get to zero? No. We have to question ourselves: the political parties no longer speak to many French people, especially young people. At “Nous France”, we will be on a very “field” and very young logic. That doesn’t mean we’re going to have a young movement, but they have to be the common thread. Like in the workshops this morning where they didn’t hesitate to say “there you speak to me, there you do not speak to me“. We have to be oriented towards the younger generations.
When you failed at the Les Républicains congress, you announced that you were stopping national politics. Finally, you do not stop?
Xavier-Bertrand : I did not stop at the presidential election, to carry my ideas, nor at the legislative elections. We are going to look back, because these last few weeks have also been an opportunity to take stock of the reasons for my failure. That evening, the sky fell on my head: all this preparation for years, it stopped. And then I was convinced that Valérie Pécresse would win. She president, that was the end of my national ambitions. Things didn’t turn out that way and we suffered a terrible setback. And I realize that today, I am the only one to think that order, work and the middle classes are priorities for action. If I don’t, who will? ?
Carry these ideas for 2027 perhaps?
Xavier-Bertrand : I told you : we’re already going to work before we get to 2027. I don’t know if you remember, but the “Macron bonus”, before it bore that name, I was the one who proposed it. Why did I do it? Because I thought we had to find solutions to the Yellow Vests crisis. What makes me happy today is that millions of people have benefited from it. I will continue to bring ideas into the debate. But I will not wear them alone, I will wear them with Us France.
A word on regional news: the Camaïeu company is placed in compulsory liquidation and you said that you were not going to leave the employees on the floor.
Xavier-Bertrand : Of the 2,600 employees in the company, we have about 600 in Hauts-de-France. I was in the Camaïeu store [de Saint-Quentin, NDLR] a few tens of meters from here to discuss with the employees and union representatives. Today, they are waiting to be accompanied, some to find a job in sales, others to completely change direction. It will be our responsibility, we have already agreed with the prefect, with the employment services and the staff representatives to set up a unit to not let anyone down. And we are going to mobilize funding to train those who want to do something else.