Anne Genevard. LR deputy for the 5th district of Doubs and vice-president of the National Assembly, Annie Genevard is putting her seat at stake in the legislative elections but intends to stay to make the voice of the right heard.
Deputy of the 5th district of Doubs since 2012, the Republican Annie Genevard is seeking a third term in the National Assembly in the legislative elections of 2022. Heavyweight of the right, the Vice-President of the National Assembly strongly believes in the chances of the party to “create surprise” in the elections of June 12 and 19 after the fiasco of the presidential election. Strong proposals, listening to the concerns of the French and a local anchoring of the candidates are for them the best arguments to win the ballot and sit again in the Bourbon palace.
Two days before the first round of the legislative elections, Annie Genevard talks about her ambitions as an MP, the public policies that are urgently needed, her campaign and her chances of victory for Internet user.
Linternaute.com – Are you running for a third term as MP in the 5th district of Doubs? What are your motivations for keeping your seat in the Assembly?
Annie Genevard – My goals are the same and different at the same time. The same because the values in which I believe, which are those of Republicans with a history and I believe a future, are heirs to the Gaullism of Christian democracy and have their place in the democratic debate. These are the values of work, authority, well-understood solidarity or even the importance of territories. What is lucky are the contextual elements. I am completing a tour of my constituency and I have seen new problems emerge: the feeling of abandonment of rural areas, small towns who are worried about their future or the lack of labor everywhere. The question of employment is moreover an immense subject which will probably be the subject of one of my first interventions in the National Assembly.
These subjects can be defended by other people but obviously not by Nupes and for the majority it is complicated because the “at the same time” carries contradictory speeches. We see that on sovereign issues things do not have the force of evidence and on priorities such as health or education the measures taken have not made it possible to change the situation. From time to time, of course, there are proposals and we voted on them. To the Republicans we are not for the blocking of the country or that of the institutions, it is the proof that we are deeply useful to democracy. The day when there is only Mélenchon or Le Pen in the opposition, democracy is in ruins.
Several elected Republicans have decided to join the presidential majority for the legislative elections. Do you see a form of betrayal there?
Six LR deputies joined the majority, it is ten times less than what we were told. Emmanuel Macron had the will to explode the right and the left. If he had accompanied this ambition with a desire for reconstruction, but we see that he himself experienced difficulties in this area since he lost the absolute majority, he failed to build a single party and he is preparing for hours that are not the easiest in the presidential camp with ambitious allies. To destroy is one thing, to build is infinitely more difficult.
During the municipal elections of 2020, all the Republicans who joined LREM in the 2nd round failed, it was Lyon, Strasbourg, Bordeaux… Voters like clarity. Changing sides is a strategy that can be perilous, what is recognized is the constancy, consistency and clarity of positions. To talk about LR defectors to LREM, I distinguish political leaders from those who are not responsible and there are no figures to attest to a massive movement from LR to LREM among activists. Especially since LREM is, in my opinion, not a party strictly speaking since there is no contribution to pay, just a click on the internet. As for the political leaders, I find that the LR family has held on. Tuesday morning during the strategic council we were all around Christian Jacob, there was Xavier Bertrand, Michel Barnier, Gérard Larcher, Bruno Retailleau, David Lisnard, Jean-François Copé, etc.
On the right some have campaigned for a rapprochement between LR and LREM, what was your position?
Among the major figures of LR, a rapprochement with LREM is a hypothesis that was put forward by a member: Jean-François Copé. The idea was rejected by the political bureau. Everyone agreed that the legislative elections had to take place, that the voice of a responsible opposition be carried by LR. This is the line that was adopted by the political bureau the day after the presidential election.
Does this mean that at the end of the legislative elections a rapprochement with the presidential majority is possible?
No, it was not mentioned as such. We are engaged in the legislative elections to win. If we don’t win we will be in an opposition that will be constructive. LR is not going to dissolve to join LREM.
Are the Republicans, alone, still able to win constituencies and maintain the hundred seats that the party holds in the National Assembly?
We are not alone, we have with us the UDI and the New Centrists. We can surprise. The polls we have commissioned attest to a weakening of LREM, precisely a loss of 15 points compared to the first round of 2017.
You yourself are no longer in a strong position in your constituency. Valérie Pecresse came fourth in the first round of the presidential election, with 7.6% of the vote, behind Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon Mélenchon. Do you think you can turn the tide?
The legislative and the presidential are two completely different elections. In the last four elections we have won the municipal, departmental, regional and lost the presidential. Each ballot has its own logic and I think that the ballots are not superimposable. Of course, there is a dynamic of the presidential which is felt on the legislative ones, it is the fruit of the electoral calendar and the quinquennium. But for all that, I think that the local roots of the candidates, the general climate of a government that does not express itself – we don’t know what it thinks, we don’t know what it wants to do – can significantly modify gives it.
In the legislative elections, local anchoring is decisive. For example, I have voters on the left who will vote for me because they recognize the work. Of the seven candidates in my constituency, only three are from the territory and two are locally rooted. And I think I have the deepest anchor. I don’t want to be presumptuous but I can see how the field reacts. I feel good vibes but we have to wait until Sunday to know the verdict. We must also bear in mind that it will not be the same electorate that will vote on June 12 and 19 because there are traditionally more abstentions in the legislative elections than in the presidential elections.
Can this abstention be beneficial to you?
It’s always hard to say. I will beware of such predictions. I’m reasonably confident, that’s my mindset.
If you are not qualified in the second round of the legislative elections, will you give voting instructions?
My absence in the second round is a hypothesis in which I cannot believe. To be qualified in the second round, you need 12.5% of those registered, that means that with 50% abstention, I have to do 25% and I will do at least 25%, I am convinced of that.
What will be your first question in the Assembly or your first bill?
My first question will be about local employment or health. We have made lots of proposals for health: the recruitment of junior doctors, the deployment of 25,000 positions in hospitals, the introduction of a bonus against the cost of living because in particular in my constituency, which is a border territory , life is very expensive and labor tends to leave for Switzerland, including medical labor.
You are talking about health, do you think that the responses given to the concerns of the medical sector and caregivers by the government with the Ségur de la santé and more recently the flash mission launched at the end of May have been sufficient?
The answers were not at all appropriate! We know the situation of the hospital by heart, we know the problem of over-administration, that of the lack of staff, the absence of a network with city medicine. To launch a flash mission is to postpone the decision. I think the government is obsessed with the idea of procrastinating, of making no waves, of being as discreet as possible until the legislative elections. Moreover, it has been declared, Emmanuel Macron has chosen to be in reserve and to raise the danger Jean-Luc Mélenchon. This is the government’s strategy.
You contributed to the “Education” project of François Fillon’s presidential program in 2017. During the five-year term, the school has undergone many changes, particularly with the reform of the baccalaureate and Emmanuel announced new modifications for the next school year with the reintroduction of mathematics. in the common trunk in high school. Do all these changes and adjustments inspire you with a built and solid project?
What I see are the results. We have a collapse in the level of mathematics with the reform of the baccalaureate. From now on it is a question of reintroducing maths but all that is not very clear. The biggest problem facing us today is the recruitment crisis and the level of recruitment of teachers. We have recruited at CAPES at unworthy levels because we have more vacancies than candidates. Why does he have a collapse in the level of mathematics? This is because of the reform but also because the professors are rarely scientists, they are almost all literary. But if the teachers are not sufficiently trained, how do you expect the teaching to succeed?
We made proposals during the five-year term: certify teaching methods, refused; work on the autonomy of establishments: refused; reform teacher training: refused; to pay retired teachers to become tutors: refused. We know what to do.
Pap Ndiaye, was appointed Minister of Education on May 20, 2022. A choice much criticized by the far right, the right and certain figures of the majority. What inspires you about this appointment?
I will not shoot the new Minister of Education, I will wait for him to speak, but his previous statements on the chauvinism of the white man and racist France do not give me any hope of a peaceful school. We are concerned because he is someone who seems to have expressed an interest in a racialized approach to subjects and wokist positions. These deep movements that run through higher education and school are very destructive. I am waiting to see what he will say on this, it is very important.
But when I see Gérald Darmanin next to Pap Ndiaye in the Council of Ministers, I see two lines and I tell myself that the “at the same time” will find its limits. We cannot say with Mr. Darmanin that we are going to fight against communitarianism and with Mr. Ndiaye to talk about the chauvinism of the white man.
What issues do you want to defend in your constituency?
The priority subjects are rurality and local development. Ensure that rurality is not overlooked in public policies. The rurality of the mountains, in particular because my home is a mountain territory, so here is the voice of my rural territory to be heard, this is the main message that I will convey. I have acquired many networks to ensure that the public policies that will be implemented at the national level can properly serve my territory.