Happy with his move. To the point of paying only absent attention to the “Bellamy, get out!” of a handful of students wearing keffiyehs. François-Xavier Bellamy has a smile. Finally, a little media attention! This Tuesday, May 7, the MEP burst into Sciences Po Paris to denounce the blockage of the establishment and the anti-Semitism conveyed by certain activists of the Palestinian cause. He unfolds his arguments there, when the miracle occurs. A clash with LFI deputy Louis Boyard, immediately broadcast on CNews.
Louis Boyard has been Cyril Hanouna’s close enemy since their violent altercation on the TPMP set. A few hours later, the host rolls out the red carpet at the head of the LR list at the Europeans on C8. The enemies of my enemies are my friends. No contradiction is opposed to François-Xavier Bellamy, free to discuss the “confiscation” of universities by an active minority. The boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau had advised the candidate to seize more of the “media moment”. The lesson has been learned. “The campaign is also on national issues. We must not be less intelligent than LFI,” François-Xavier Bellamy confides to L’Express.
Here is the wise Bellamy transfigured into a rebel. His account A few hours earlier, the candidate had announced the filing of a complaint after an attempted Chinese cyberattack, in the middle of Xi Jinping’s trip to Paris. Here again, the legal action is relayed on X by means of a flashy photo montage, turning the Bellamy-Xi duel into an Ali-Foreman fight. Let it be said: under his serious student appearance, the LR MEP is ready for a fight!
Invisibilized by Hayer
A shallow do not do the spring. The LR leader is struggling to leave his mark on the electoral campaign. Credited with 7 to 8% voting intentions, François-Xavier Bellamy hoped to reach the symbolic bar of 10% to attract light and trigger a positive dynamic. Alas, this figure of the third man – conducive to media stories – is preempted by Raphaël Glucksmann. In politics, anonymity is a death sentence.
His desire to reconstitute a left-right divide comes up against a wall of indifference. On the sidelines of a confrontation between the heads of the list on Public Senate on March 14, François-Xavier Bellamy offers Valérie Hayer a televised debate. The Renaissance leader agrees… but does not follow up. Officially, for agenda reasons. The presidential camp actually has little desire to shine this rival, eager to bring together those disappointed with Macronism. Around Éric Ciotti, François-Xavier Bellamy was then urged to formulate his debate proposal by SMS to trap his rival and denounce his refusal of confrontation. And so what ? In the abyss, no one hears you scream. Small consolation, a debate organized on April 16 with Raphaël Glucksmann on BFMTV.
“You avoid traps, but you don’t overturn the table”
François-Xavier Bellamy has learned the lessons of his failure in 2019. He favors media interventions over public meetings, benchmarks for already convinced voters. On television, the man delivers serious and diligent performances. Polite, always. Not the type to interrupt his opponent during an oratory contest. His supporters praise his serious spirit, far from the shortcuts of Jordan Bardella. He himself claims this character trait, which he establishes as a political singularity. “We will always be more effective than us in terms of ease and demagoguery,” defends the candidate.
Obtaining esteemed success is good. Winning over voters is better. The right sometimes almost falls asleep listening to the philosophy professor. François-Xavier Bellamy forgets nothing in his interventions, but what do we remember? “You avoid the traps, but you don’t overturn the table,” one interlocutor told him. “It’s humming”, “Campaign from the day before yesterday, without flagship proposal”, “We’re not carrying anything”… Under cover of anonymity, many LR executives are grinding out a race without flavor or markers. During a strategic committee, Laurent Wauquiez summarized the candidate’s equation on Tuesday. “Bardella is the anti-Macron, Maréchal is Islam, Hayer is Europe. You must link everything to the same political offer and carry a single message,” said the boss in substance of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
“His offer is by definition almost inaudible”
The advice has the force of evidence. Its implementation is more delicate. François-Xavier Bellamy delivers a “eurorealist” speech that is less impactful than the eurosceptic attacks of the RN or Valérie Hayer’s ode to the EU. This ideological in-between, combined with the structural weakness of LR, is hardly a seller. “His offer is by definition almost inaudible,” analyzes an MP. Its positioning is too. The man faces the eternal challenge posed to the right since 2017. Bringing back the voters of Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen without falling into ambiguity. François-Xavier Bellamy struggles, like his predecessors, to solve the equation. Like when he drowns himself in endless convolutions to hide his vote in the last presidential election.
And then, François-Xavier Bellamy remains an intellectual. When asked about his markers, the MEP evokes “the liberation of the French from a hindered life” or the possibility of “doing” in the European Parliament. The man chose the very conceptual “Master our destiny” as his campaign slogan. And too bad if other simpler formulas were favored by the polling institute providing the Republicans. He kept the habits of a philosophy professor.
Conflicting injunctions
Éric Ciotti would prefer to see him put on the costume of a communicator, he who observes with interest certain visuals of rebellious France. “He has to get wet and take risks,” assured the president of LR to an elected official. The candidate has tried his hand at Sciences Po, but remains a cautious type. His close guard, made up of Ghislain De Franqueville and Arnaud Poulain, too. Like when she demanded the deletion of a tweet showing General Gomart, number 3 on the list, in military uniform. The photo, whose legality is suspect during an election period, then sparks a mini-controversy. Eric Ciotti’s entourage refuses to give in, the message is still online. Internally, a discussion around a leaflet concerning the President of the Republic will cause the same divide. “The Bellamy team wanted something responsible,” we whisper at LR headquarters.
Serious, but impactful. Responsible, but disruptive. François-Xavier Bellamy is here subject to contradictory injunctions. Éric Ciotti urges him to take risks… but has built a very “conservative” list on his own. The renewal of the historic Nadine Morano and Brice Hortefeux relegated the recruitment of the farmer Céline Imart and General Gomart to the background. François-Xavier Bellamy would have liked more renewal, but did not dare to standoff with the boss of LR. The morning of the presentation of the list, the candidate is in Eric Ciotti’s office. He endorses the choices of the Niçois, barely managing to move his old enemy Geoffroy Didier from 9th to 11th place. This is little. In April 2023, however, he confided his refusal to lead a “half fig, half grape” list, made up of “rehousing friends”. “He’s too nice”, privately regrets Bruno Retailleau, close to the MEP. He is now forced to defend the “experience” of the two former ministers on television, far from his deep thoughts. Far, above all, from his need to emerge in the countryside.
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