Emmanuel Macron’s party is organizing its return to school in Bordeaux this weekend. A “European campus”, according to Renaissance, to mark a first step on the road to the European elections. A gathering with a surprising headliner: Ursula von der Leyen. The problem is that the arrival of the President of the European Commission is not necessarily well received by the Macronists.
For some elected officials, it is even a very bad idea. A Renaissance MP sees it as a “bad signal” sent to voters, who are already usually disinterested in European elections. The choice of Stéphane Séjourné, the party boss, surprised many Macronists: putting forward Ursula von der Leyen, member of the German right, outgoing president of the European Commission, candidate for his succession, “it gives the impression that we are looking for a simple renewal, like in the French presidential election”tackles an elected official.
Nagorno-Karabakh controversy
Ursula von der Leyen is also singled out for her management of the crisis between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Six Renaissance deputies took up their pens to sign a forum in Le Figaro Friday. They call on the President of the European Commission to take emergency measures for the Armenians, to call into question the gas contracts with Baku and to sanction the Azerbaijani leaders. The Commission “remained a spectator of the military operation” in Nagorno-Karabakh, they write. We have known warmer words of welcome.
Pre-campaign without hurrying
This Renaissance European campus is organized 8 months before the June 2024 vote. But the party has no plans to accelerate its campaign. Renaissance management should choose its head of list at the beginning of next year and not before. The idea is to wait until the French are really interested in these elections and also to protect the candidate from attacks by competitors. This is the strategy that the Macronists followed in 2019. With some success: they came second with 22.4% of the votes. Not sure if this will work again. The competition is better prepared, according to a Renaissance executive who regrets the time wasted: if the chosen head of the list is little known, she will on the contrary need to go on the campaign trail early to make herself known to voters. “We need panache, inspiration, a personality who sells dreams”lamented a deputy, an early walker.
Three potential candidates for the head of the list
There are currently three of them who can hope to lead the battle. Stéphane Séjourné, first. The president of the Renew group in the European Parliament, and therefore also the head of the Renaissance party. The most legitimate but he is hesitant to return to Brussels at the risk of missing out on a place in government in the event of a reshuffle. The other almost declared contender is the Secretary of State for Europe, Laurence Boone. Little known, but who has her CV going for her: before her government position, she was chief economist at the OECD. Finally, Thierry Breton barely hides his ambitions: the European Commissioner for Industry and Digital is active behind the scenes. He will speak this Saturday, after Ursula von der Leyen. But at 68 years old and after an already busy political career, we would be far from “ plume » hoped for by some of the Macronists.