The candidates had until Sunday evening to officially present themselves. In the Pyrénées-Orientales, 27 people show up in the four constituencies. To dethrone the four outgoing deputies of the National Rally, the Renaissance party (presidential majority) has nominated three candidates: Christophe Euzet, professor of law in Perpignan and former deputy of the majority in Hérault (1st constituency), Laurence Gayte, former deputy of the majority (3rd district) and Patricia Nadal, opposition municipal councilor in Argelès-sur-Mer (4th district).
The Renaissance representative in the department Frédérique Lis was the guest of the France Bleu Roussillon morning show this Monday.
France Bleu Roussillon: Why are you not presenting anyone in the 2nd constituency which covers Salanque and Fenouillèdes?
Frédérique Lis: Because we had several opportunities available to us. And on the second, it seemed to us that Republican support was appropriate for the candidacy of Marc Medina (mayor of Torreilles, without label) and his deputy Jacques Bayona (mayor of Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet).
It is also the constituency of Anaïs Sabatini, the outgoing member of the National Rally who, as we know, was elected with 61% of the votes two years ago. Did you tell yourself that it was lost in advance?
The president gave us several instructions. The first was to be able to have a candidate from the Republican arc in each constituency to have a representative from the central bloc or to be able to support a candidacy. The goal is to avoid dividing votes. And in this constituency, it seemed to us that the candidacy of Marc Medina was perfectly appropriate.
Considering the results of your party or your political movement in the European elections, are you sending the candidates to the brink?
The result of the European elections could not be avoided. We are at 50% voting for the extremes. But I don’t think we should send our candidates to the brink. Because we are in a real moment of clarification. The masks fall for the extremes, right and left. We are faced with a choice, a democratic choice and it is a choice that everyone has to make. Today, you have three blocks: extreme right, extreme left, central bloc. It’s up to everyone to position themselves.
You had personally worked to build center-right candidates in the department. But in the 1st constituency, for example, your party has nominated the former deputy Christophe Euzet and he will face the centrist candidate Annabelle Brunet. What is the strategy?
Our positioning is to reach out to everyone. Sometimes it was possible to reduce the number of applications as much as possible, but sometimes it was not. Today, we have aligned our four fighters with the constituencies and representatives of the central bloc.
Why was this not possible?
It is rather up to the candidates to answer you.
Isn’t it because you are already considering municipal elections?
I do not believe. I imagine that Christophe Euzet himself answered this question. We are facing a national election. It is a truly national election and I think that the legislative elections respond to a logic which is completely different from local elections. So we don’t see too far. Today, we have an assembly to rebuild which today is experiencing a deleterious climate.
On Sunday, the captain of the French football team Kylian Mbappé launched a call for a vote to prevent the extremes from coming to power. Nearly 200 athletes are also calling for a barrier to the National Gathering, in an article published on the website of the newspaper l’Equipe. What do you think of these positions?
I think it can make it possible to fight against abstention and participate in this historic moment. Since the dissolution, we have also noted numerous registrations on the electoral lists and many memberships in each party, particularly in ours. There is a real awareness. Everyone must take part in this moment. So I welcome these positions so that everyone can take part in this election.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal presented the program of the presidential majority. The Pyrénées-Orientales is a department very affected by unemployment. Why, for example, do you decide to maintain the unemployment insurance reform?
The unemployment insurance reform is part of a whole that started in 2019. It is something that does not come out of the hat. As a reminder, this involves allowing access to compensation if you have worked eight months in the last 20 months. Today, it is if you have worked six months in the last 24 months. It is also a reduction in the duration of compensation which would go from 18 to 15 months. The value of work is a cardinal value for our majority and I believe we have shown it. But I would still like to reassure; the decree will be taken on July 1, but the first part of this decree is precisely to postpone the entry into force of the reform until December 1. And what a law can do, a law can undo. The extremes are aligned both on the cancellation of this reform and at the same time on retirement at 60, or even for some, on the right to be lazy. So it will be entirely possible to be able to reverse this reform if that is the choice that is made during the legislative elections.
Your camp is also proposing to reduce electricity bills by 15% for next winter. But these bills still increased by 10% in February. Gas will also increase by 11% this summer. Is it not possible to apply this reduction now?
No, that’s not possible. This reduction will cost zero euros for the French in the current state of the situation, which is not the case for all programs. Because it is a reduction which will be caused by the implementation of the reform of the European electricity market. And there, it is a good point of comparison since between the three blocs which present themselves to you, you have the extreme right which wanted to get out of this reform of the electricity market. And the other extreme left bloc which wanted to put an end to nuclear power. And I would have a hard time telling you the cost for the French, since these parties have not calculated it themselves.
Perpignan was recently singled out in a report in the weekly L’Express as one of the cities which are becoming hubs for drug trafficking in the south of France. What are your plans against drug trafficking here in the Pyrénées-Orientales?
Possibly change mayor! Louis Aliot had made security a campaign promise. Over the last five-year period, there are 10,000 additional police forces, and over the next five-year period, if we remain as we are, there are 8,500 additional police forces. These are also net market transactions. The XXL net squares that you have seen also include 200 gendarmerie brigades. We still had to fight to obtain them on the territory. What I foresee is perhaps a change of gear at Perpignan town hall. If the far right wins these legislative elections, perhaps we will have Louis Aliot mayor of Perpignan and at the same time Minister of the Interior and at the same time vice-president of the National Rally and at the same time vice-president of the agglomeration. Maybe he can do something this time!
