Since mid-September, Olivier Véran has increased his trips to cities that have a National Rally (RN) mayor. After Beaucaire, Perpignan, Hayange and Fréjus, it was in Hénin-Beaumont, the stronghold of Marine Le Pen, that the government spokesperson was invited a week ago. A move – inevitably – very political.
“ Where are the elected representatives of the RN? There is no one from the town hall ? “. Barely out of his ministerial sedan, Olivier Véran asks the question outright to those who are there to welcome him and the Minister of Industry, Roland Lescure. We are in front of the training campus of the Euralogistic company, where 3,000 young people learn logistics professions each year.
A strange place for a meeting, on the edge of the Autoroute du Nord, and above all very far from the city center of Hénin-Beaumont. And if the minister’s tone is falsely ingenuous when he asks his question, it is because he already knows the answer. The meeting will not take place: neither the mayor of Hénin-Beaumont since 2014, Steve Briois, nor the MP for the constituency since 2017, Marine Le Pen, are there.
The famous “Republican welcome” is reduced to the prefect of Hauts-de-France and a few local elected officials: PS on the left, Les Républicains on the right and Renaissance for the majority; but in the city which has become the stronghold of its president, not a trace of a representative of the RN.
Cracking the varnish
However, confronting the elected representatives of the National Rally is what Olivier Véran is looking for. His goal : “ Crack the varnish of the Lepéniste window » in his words. What he got at the start of this ” tour de France », when the RN elected officials came to rub shoulders with him, without really knowing which foot to dance on. Between the constrained smile in the photo and the cold reception, the risk of slipping and insult is never far away.
As in Hayange, in Moselle, when RN deputy Laurent Jacobelli says to his Renaissance counterpart Belkhir Belhaddad: “ Don’t act like a scumbag. »
In Hénin-Beaumont, like everywhere, the State promotes our industries.
We made it known with @RolandLescure at Euralogistic, announcing support of 332,000 euros. Then at the Pasteur high school, where we are sure, Industry Week will generate vocations. pic.twitter.com/S6JQSY4irw— Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) December 1, 2023
“ A non-event », according to Mayor RN Steve Briois
Since then, it’s much simpler, the RN elected officials no longer come! They prefer to react from a distance. Like the mayor of Hénin-Beaumont, Steve Briois, who issued a press release at the end of the visit to describe it as “ non-event ” and of ” pitiful political communications operation “.
Because the two ministers did not come empty-handed. They announced the payment of 332,000 euros in public aid to Euralogistic, including “ part of it would not have been possible without the European Union. It must be remembered » insists Olivier Véran.
And that, ” the National Rally does not want us to tell people » wants to believe the minister, while the far-right party is leading the polls for the next European elections.
Read alsoAssistants to FN MEPs: Marine Le Pen and her party will be tried for embezzlement of public funds