The exchange takes place away from prying eyes. In this spring of 2024, Eric Ciotti talks freely with a leading political adversary. It is in this intimacy that the elected officials lift the veil on their intentions. Leave the formatted speeches from television sets in the locker room. There, the boss of the Republicans (LR) advances his pawns. He talks about his party’s participation in a coalition government. Says the names of three potential Prime Ministers: François Baroin, Gérard Larcher and Michel Barnier. His interlocutor collects. Could it be Marine Le Pen? No, from Marie Lebec, Minister responsible for Relations with Parliament. An early Macronist, self-proclaimed “fanzouze” of the president.
Eric Ciotti is a man of successive temptations, who goes where his interest guides him. Even if it means allowing yourself the ultimate transgression. The Macron liner is taking on water? The man makes Chimène’s eyes at the National Rally, the big winner of the European elections. The deputy for Alpes-Maritimes caused a political earthquake by announcing this Tuesday his intention to form an “alliance” with the far-right party with a view to the early legislative elections.
Let it be said: the people of Nice are building this agreement to “preserve” the modest LR group in the Assembly and for the French. It is urgent to protect the country from “Macronism” and “Melenchonism”. And to enter the government in the event of victory for the “right-wing bloc”? What a vulgar question. “My personal situation doesn’t matter,” Eric Ciotti says. The evil tongues recall that Jordan Bardella crushed LR in the European elections in Nice, suggesting delicate legislative elections. To an elected official who inquired by SMS, Eric Ciotti replied: “It has absolutely nothing to do with the premises.”
“The damage is done, it’s shameful”
No, Eric Ciotti would firstly be the spokesperson for a majority of “activists”. Didn’t they elect him as party president in 2022? Didn’t they wear it in the final of the 2021 primary, when all the tenors ran into the arms of Valérie Pécresse? So, the loud cries of this good-natured right, Eric Ciotti despises them from the height of his status as president of LR. Are the senators unanimous against him? Little bourgeois!
To hell with the calls for the resignation of the president of the Senate Gérard Larcher or the boss of LR deputies Olivier Marleix. Let them storm, these deputies attached to the Republican front against the extreme right. “Scandalous”, “What a lack of dignity”, “The damage is done, it’s shameful”… On an internal loop, elected officials compete with harsh criticism against the Nice resident. We are going through the party’s statutes to put it out of harm’s way. Like this article 24-6 which allows any member of LR to be sanctioned.
Smiling, Eric Ciotti sticks to his position as president. Those who know him know: only his personal interest counts. His compass is more intimate than ideological. He knows how to count. François-Xavier Bellamy failed on Sunday in Nice in a modest sixth place in the Europeans, far behind Jordan Bardella. A defeat in the legislative elections would be a massive blow for him. Especially two years before the municipal elections in Nice, a city that Eric Ciotti wishes to wrest from his close enemy Christian Estrosi. The instinct for survival led him to make a pact. “It’s not a choice of conviction, he’s trying to save himself. Ciotti has no qualms, because he has no soul,” notes an executive. “Nice, it’s the obsession of a mad dog,” adds another.
“I never saw an ideological flash in him”
What are his beliefs? Strange Eric Ciotti. In him, a constant doctrine coexists – economic liberalism and regal firmness – and absolute political plasticity. In private, the man is appreciated by left-wing colleagues and has established a cordial relationship with Gabriel Attal, whom he speaks on familiar terms. So, Marine Le Pen, why not? An LR pillar analyzes: “In my exchanges with him, I have never seen an ideological flash. I have always seen him capable of considering the worst hypotheses as long as they are in his interest.” This intellectual mobility led to a skirmish between Bruno Retailleau and the Nice resident at the end of the examination of the immigration law. The Vendéen criticized his colleague for giving up too quickly at the end of negotiations with the government. This elasticity led him this Thursday to join the RN, apostle of retirement at 60.
Retirement, let’s talk about it. Eric Ciotti is 58 years old. “He dreams of entering the government…” How many times has this sentence been uttered by an LR elected official? National ambition guides many political choices. At home, it is observed in microdetails. Like these numerous letters addressed to Emmanuel Macron in reaction to the news. Like the typography of these letters, modeled on the Elysée model. When considering pension reform; the rebellious deputies were already amused by his pleasure in being treated with respect by Elisabeth Borne.
“He will be kicked out of the party”
Eric Ciotti is a loner. The man is not surrounded by a cohort of faithful people, ready to fall in battle for him. At LR, he surrounded himself with a team of young collaborators, who owe him everything. “Eric’s main collaborator is Ciotti,” notes an executive. His highlight of the day, pure Ciotti. The man moved forward in secret and did not warn party leaders of his proposed alliance, going against custom. “Everyone who spoke to him in recent days feels betrayed,” notes an LR advisor. The mystery, always. The man, the resentful type, has the talent to see enemies everywhere. Ask Julien Aubert, suspected by the southerner of having orchestrated a campaign against him during the last internal election. The former elected official from Vaucluse was not included on the LR list in the European elections.
Allying with the leader of the LR is risky, as the man easily gives up his thumb to protect himself. Thus Geoffroy Didier, his ex-lieutenant, was placed in an ineligible position for European elections to preserve social peace. Eric Ciotti promised to run Laurent Wauquiez as a candidate in 2027. The president of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes was his main campaign argument during the race for the party presidency. Alas, the opportunist threw his “friend Laurent” under the bus in the name of this “alliance”, after the failure of the Europeans. The ex-president of LR tried to contact Eric Ciotti this morning, alerted by the public rumor. He had to wait for a phone call from his ex-partner just before his appearance on the news to gauge this betrayal. Farewell my friend, but LR is useless to me!
This Tuesday, Eric Ciotti carried out an absolute ideological transgression in the former party of Jacques Chirac. The boss of the French right has stepped aside behind the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes. The potential minister disregarded his party’s political history. An irreversible act. The man is isolated today. Many party employees no longer want to work alongside him, calls for resignation abound. He even risks not receiving his own party’s nomination in the legislative elections. “Political suicide,” scoffs a strategist. At LR, that’s for sure. On the far right, perhaps a birth. A personal destiny is worth many denials.
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