“The right that we wish to rebuild is no longer called The Republicans”

During the pension reform, in 2023, Aurélien Pradié (Les Républicains, LR) challenged the authority of Eric Ciotti. The affair had cost him his position as number two in the party. This Wednesday, he voted, like the entire political bureau, to exclude the president of LR, after the announcement of the latter’s agreement with the National Rally (RN). For the 38-year-old elected official, this crisis must be an opportunity for the Republican right to rebuild itself. And why not with a new party name.

What does the exclusion of Eric Ciotti mean for the Republicans?

Right-wing leaders made this decision unanimously for the first time in a long time. Perhaps when the essential is at stake, everyone manages to erase their small differences. When you are a political leader like Eric Ciotti and, to save your little place, you sacrifice the history of the Gaullist right which has never associated itself with the extreme right, you are one of the actors in the rotting behavior in political life and you flout its code of honor.

We have become accustomed to betrayals of all kinds. Leaving one’s family for a ministerial post has become the rule, when before it was the exception. I feared that this general atmosphere would give ideas to some people. This was the case for Eric Ciotti. The tragedy is the slow habituation to the worst in our democracy.

But you always privately suspected him of being ready to “sell out” for a ministerial post…

Yes, I felt him tempted by Macronie after the retirement episode, in 2023. But all this adds to his disgrace. Being able to sell yourself to anyone makes you a true opportunist. Basically, as politics no longer had any control over the changes in the world, only the most derisory part remained: honors. Like the flashing light on the minister’s car.

Can this unprecedented crisis prove beneficial for LR?

The right was too hesitant to assert its independence and partly dreaming of a government that it no longer is, it sought to govern at all costs. Yesterday, by flirting with Macronie, today, for Eric Ciotti, by allying with Marine Le Pen. It’s the same phenomenon. This episode could be year zero of the re-foundation of a Gaullist right or the end of history.

Eric Ciotti says that the activists approve of this agreement with the RN and wants them to vote. Do you fear that your position will be disavowed by your base?

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