This Tuesday, December 20, the president of the Grand Est Region, Jean Rottner, announces that he will resign from his political functions by the end of the year. He evokes in a press release “family imperatives”.
“I have decided to leave public life.” It is with this simple sentence accompanied by a press release all in sobriety that Jean Rottner, the president LR of the Grand Est Region announced to resign from his political functions this Tuesday, December 20, 2022. The news is surprising coming from the one who has been at the head of the Region since 2017 and after a re-election in 2021. However, it is a “maturely considered” decision which is driven by “family imperatives” on which the politician does not dwell more.
Jean Rottner is not content to leave the reins of the Grand Est Region, whose interim will be provided by the first vice-president Franck Leroy, strong in the confidence of the Republican, he announces that he will withdraw “from the whole of [ses] mandates by the end of the year”. This therefore includes his position as first deputy to the town hall of Mulhouse where Michèle Lutz has replaced him since 2017.
A departure caused by “family imperatives”
The departure of Jean Rottner is sudden and with almost immediate effect since announced on December 20 for an effective withdrawal before the end of the year. It is a priori the family which pushes the politician and emergency doctor by training to leave his function at the Region, but it is not specified whether it is a question of health problems suffered by Jean Rottner or one of his relatives. A visibly voluntary discretion, the president of the Grand Est Region contenting himself with a sentence to explain the reasons for his resignation in his press release.
Is Jean Rottner leaving politics because of Eric Ciotti?
The question may arise as the decision of Jean Rottner, member of the Republicans, comes only ten days after the election of Eric Ciotti at the head of the right-wing party. The world writes that before the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes acceded to the presidency of LR, the possible departure of the president of the Grand Est Region was mentioned. The two men do not evolve on the same political line: Jean Rottner has several times defended the dialogue between LR and the presidential majority and several rumors announced him as minister during the reshuffles. Yet the politician and doctor never crossed the barrier refusing an alliance with the LREM candidate Brigitte Klinkert during the regional elections of 2021 and taking part in the campaign of Valérie Pécresse during the presidential election of 2022. It seems hard to believe that it was a change in the party president that prompted Jean Rottner to resign from his political functions. What’s more, Jean Rottner left politics but did not say return his card to the Republican party.