Among the Republicans, the campaign for the European elections is accelerating. The party boss, Eric Ciotti, designated François-Xavier Bellamy as head of the list this Monday, January 15. A “remarkable European elected official who gave influence to our group and to France”, as the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes described him on TF1.
In an interview posted online on the website of FigaroFrançois-Xavier Bellamy, reacted by expressing his “gratitude” and committing to “give everything” during an election which “involves a lot of the future of our political family, but also of democratic life in France “.
“For all right-wing voters, this is the time to come together to assert their convictions,” he added, refusing that political life be “reduced” to a choice between Emmanuel Macron and the National Rally.
The European elected official, also head of the list during the previous election in 2019, promises to campaign in particular on immigration, where “the essential remains to be done” to guarantee “the protection of borders”, as well as on ” rebuilding economic security.
The names of his running mates not yet revealed
Despite the entry into the running in September of Jordan Bardella for the RN and Marion Maréchal for Reconquête, Eric Ciotti preferred to wait until the start of the year to nominate his head of list. However, he has not yet revealed the names of his running mates.
The appointment of François-Xavier Bellamy comes a few days after the poaching of the Sarkozyist Rachida Dati who joined Gabriel Attal’s government last week as Minister of Culture, and whose departure shook the Republican party. The new minister was also excluded from the party.
“For me, politics is not the Star Academy, it’s not we go in, we go out”, reacted the party boss, who however affirmed that the LR deputies would vote “neither confidence nor censure in this stage” with regard to the new head of government.
Aged 38, four more than the head of government and ten more than Jordan Bardella, François-Xavier Bellamy will have to find a space between macronism, which repeatedly draws from its ranks to recruit ministers, and the extreme right which calls on “desperate” LR voters to join its ranks.
8.5% of votes in 2019
In 2019, François-Xavier Bellamy had already taken the head of the LR list, obtaining only 8.5% of the votes, barely more than the less than 5% of the right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse in the presidential election of 2022.
A real trauma for the right which fears that a new debacle during the European elections on June 9 will definitively take away LR.
The Republicans cannot afford to stay below 5%, especially as this result would deprive them of representation in the European Parliament and could weaken the EPP group, currently the largest with 176 MEPs out of 705.
In a Elabe survey published Sunday by La Tribune and BFMTV, the LR list remains stable compared to 5 years ago at 8.5%, far behind Jordan Bardella who is in the lead with 28.5% of voting intentions, ahead of the majority presidential (18%).