LR and the Europeans: you don’t change a team that loses

Éric Ciotti announced Monday evening that François-Xavier Bellamy would be the head of the Republican list for the European elections next June. A role already taken on by the main party in 2019, without much success at the time.

Shaken by the poaching of the Sarkozy Rachida Dati who entered the Ministry of Culture, in the government of Gabriel Attal, last week, and while the president of the National Rally Jordan Bardella clearly reached out to his voters in In view of the European elections which will be held from June 6 to 9 this Monday, the Les Républicains party is trying to prove that it is staying the course. On the set of TF1’s 20 Hours, LR boss Éric Ciotti made official on Monday what had already been whispered in the corridors for several months: “François-Xavier Bellamy will lead our list in the European elections.”

Hailing a man of “convictions, values ​​and work”, who also has “the best record in the European Parliament”, Éric Ciotti reiterated his full confidence in the man who is also vice-president of the Republicans. To which the main person concerned did not fail to respond in an interview published in parallel this Monday evening in the columns of Figaro. Expressing “gratitude” to Éric Ciotti for his confidence in him, the 38-year-old MEP was nevertheless lucid about the scale of the task facing him. “This campaign involves a lot of the future of our political family,” he underlined, affirming however that he was ready to give “everything”.

Europeans, a question of survival for LR

Stuck between Macronism and the National Rally, the Republicans will therefore have to do better than in previous European elections if they want to have a chance of surviving at European level. In 2019, François-Xavier Bellamy had already taken charge, without much success. The LR had in fact obtained only 8.5% of the votes. In the meantime, there was also the failure of Valérie Pécresse, in the 2022 presidential election, who received less than 5%. On June 9, the Republicans could therefore well play for their survival.

If the latest Elabe poll published by La Tribune Sunday estimated them at 8.5%, lagging behind the list led by Jordan Bardella (28.5%) and the presidential camp (18%), remember that, in the event that he does not manage to obtain more than 5% , the LR party would find itself deprived of representation in the European Parliament and would thus weaken the PPE group, to which it is attached. Group which with 176 of the 705 deputies of Parliament is currently the largest. The consequences of the fall of LR could therefore be measured at both national and European level!