In politics, it is more useful to exchange with your enemies than with your friends. This Tuesday, February 7, Xavier Bertrand and Eric Ciotti meet for a coffee at the National Assembly. The two men maintain bad relations, poisoned by the last presidential election. A battle of influence had opposed the cantor of the social right to the southerner, follower of an identity discourse. And then, these two men do not have the same interests. The new president of the Republicans (LR) rolls for Laurent Wauquiez. The presidential ambitions of the boss of Hauts-de-France are intact.
But we have to talk to each other, especially when the right is torn openly on pension reform. Here again, the two elected officials diverge. Eric Ciotti, apostle of a reforming right, supports the copy of Elisabeth Borne. Xavier Bertrand, he denounces the “injustices” of a text too quickly dubbed by the staff of LR. This file is on the discussion menu. The former Minister of Labor shows his credentials. He assumes with his interlocutor his “differences” but denies wanting to add fuel to the fire. The LR house is burning enough as it is. “Eric got the message five out of five,” he confided to a relative.
“He plays the social right against the hard right”
This “message” is not only addressed to his rival. Xavier Bertrand offers an intense media sequence on pensions. There he plants his banners against a “disconnected” government and lists his three conditions for supporting the reform: a departure after 43 annuities for those who started before the age of 21, the abolition of special schemes and a full pension before the age of 67 for women with choppy careers. “A hardly understandable pseudo-socialist position”, mocks the mayor of Meaux Jean-François Copé. His opponents like to unearth a proposal made in 2019 to push back the retirement age to 65 after 2030, with “fixes” for difficult jobs.
Xavier Bertrand defends himself from any inconsistency and recalls his approval of a postponement of the legal age. But the main thing is elsewhere. His little social music breaks with the discourse of the LR caciques. Eric Ciotti and Olivier Marleix have “dealed” with the Prime Minister, when Laurent Wauquiez approves the text lip service.
Herald of a popular right, the former Minister of Labor clashes and makes his political line bear fruit on an issue that he masters by heart: he was co-rapporteur for the pension reform of 2003. “We want to bring the popular electorate on economic and social subjects, but not running after the RN on identity themes”, assures the president of the Essonne departmental council François Durovray, a relative. “He plays the social right against the hard right of the Ciotti-Wauquiez axis”, abounds an LR strategist.
With LR, scars not closed
From the fall of 2022, Xavier Bertrand is setting the stage for retreats. He discusses with trade unionists – Laurent Berger (CFDT) like Jean-Claude Mailly (FO) – or labor sociologists to refine his position. The boss of Nous France, his political movement, has been holding public meetings on the subject since December. This club wants to be the lever of his Elysian quest. Its territorial network continues, when its “elected” Telegram loop lists more than 300 names.
Bertrand, how many troops? We France does not communicate on the number of activists, citing an ongoing membership campaign. On the right, this personal adventure is skeptical. The “presidential” staging of the launch of the movement in October in Saint-Quentin (Aisne) made people smile, as did the photos of small meetings posted on Twitter. “His thing is meetings at 12 in bistros”, laughs an LR adviser.
He remains at a distance from his party, whose new leadership he has not integrated. Xavier Bertrand knows how much his departure in 2017 cost him during the internal primary for the presidential election. This simple member is not at the ideological center of gravity of LR. With his family, the scars are not all closed. This fall, the former minister supports Bruno Retailleau against Eric Ciotti in the second round of the LR congress. His teams plan to stage this rapprochement with a photo over coffee. Bruno Retailleau’s team declines, for fear of a repulsive effect on voters. “We didn’t want to appear as a stable, confides a relative of the senator. And his image is degraded internally, so don’t stick to him.”
“Why would he bother Ciotti?”
This distance sharpens suspicions. Elected officials suspect Xavier Bertrand of being maneuvering in the revolt led by LR deputies against the pension reform. To weaken Eric Ciotti, is it not to weaken his rival Laurent Wauquiez? The interested party rejects in block. “The deputies and senators are old enough to judge with their free will. It is to insult them to think the opposite”, he assures L’Express. The boss of Hauts-de-France is probed by parliamentarians on technical points of the reform, but ensures not to go further. He thus ceased to bring together his close deputies so as not to lend the flank to his accusations. “Why would he bother Ciotti?, annoys a faithful. There is still need to weaken him? He and Marleix have put themselves in difficulty by supporting the government so quickly.
The radiography of the LR parliamentary group is complex. Close to Xavier Bertrand, the deputy of the Vosges Stéphane Viry is in phase with the Marleix-Ciotti line. Julien Dive (Aisne) and Pierre-Henri Dumont (Pas-de-Calais), lieutenants of the regional president, are opposed to the current reform. There remains the case of Aurélien Pradié, supported this fall by Xavier Bertrand in his campaign for the presidency of LR. The deputy of Lot unleashes his arrows against the government text, at the risk of weakening the unity of his people. The general opinion is that the parliamentarian from Cahors is on his own. More a competitor on this social wing than a trustee. “I have never been close to Xavier Bertrand,” he underlines. In private, the man says he is skeptical of the Elysian ambitions of the boss of Hauts-de-France and Laurent Wauquiez.
Xavier Bertrand accompanies the revolt more than he creates it. Coming from rural or popular constituencies, LR deputies espouse their electoral sociology. Their opposition to the reform is primarily due to their chosen land. Several of these mutineers, close to Laurent Wauquiez, were elected in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Including the deputy of Haute-Loire Isabelle Valentin, who has as a substitute… the ex-president of LR.
Eternal rivalry with Wauquiez
Bertrand-Wauquiez. Two rivals with execrable relations. Two distinct pension strategies. The media bulimia of the first responds to the silence of the second. Laurent Wauquiez, in favor of the project, contented himself with a short declaration to the local press at the beginning of January. The man wants to take the time to build a political offer and not turn into a commentator: that’s the official version. “He is hiding as usual”, mocks an LR leader, summing up a shared feeling.
Xavier Bertrand claims his hyperactivity. We France serves as a suggestion box for 2027, so take advantage of it. “I don’t believe in the blow of the media scarcity and of a long-awaited word, he confides. The French who are still interested in politics want to know who thinks and proposes what. They can then say to themselves: ‘ If it was him, would it be better or worse?
Necessity is law. Xavier Bertrand has fewer supporters than Laurent Wauquiez in the LR apparatus. Not to speak is to take the risk of falling into oblivion. “No one will go looking for him, he is forced to get agitated, notes a lieutenant of the boss of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Wauquiez gives himself the luxury of the strategy of silence, because he believes he has a form of leadership on the right .” The future will prove one of these tactics right. After the retreats, Xavier Bertrand intends to tackle the issue of energy and health. Hoping for a national destiny other than that of a wise commentator.