Eric Ciotti, president of the Republicans (LR), announced this Tuesday his desire for an “alliance” with the National Rally (RN) in the legislative elections. Tenors of his party are indignant and demand his departure.
The essential
- Will Eric Ciotti lead LR to ally with the RN? The question is asked after the declarations of the president of the Republicans at midday this Tuesday, who called for an agreement with the National Rally of Jordan Bardella for the legislative elections of June 30 and July 7. Ciotti believes that his party “is too weak to oppose the two blocs which are the most dangerous”, namely the left and the Macronists.
- This announcement from Eric Ciotti triggers strong reactions, particularly in the LR ranks. “Eric Ciotti only commits himself. He must leave the Presidency of Les Républicains,” immediately tweeted the president of the right-wing deputies Olivier Marleix. Same reaction for the President of the Senate Gérard Larcher who will “never, under any pretext, endorse an agreement with the RN”. For his part, Laurent Wauquiez continues to demand “a clear and independent voice between the impotence of ‘at the same time’ and the leap into the unknown of the RN”.
- Will the RN find an agreement with LR for the legislative elections? Follow the latest news live.
Live
2:21 p.m. – The vice-president of LR in turn attacks Eric Ciotti
“We now know that in June 1940, Eric Ciotti would never have crossed the Channel,” writes Julien Dive on with the National Rally.
14:17 – Marine Le Pen welcomes Eric Ciotti’s “courageous choice”
Speaking to AFP, the president of the deputies of the National Rally evokes the “courageous choice” of Eric Ciotti to seek an alliance with the far-right party. For Marine Le Penthis decision by Eric Ciotti proves his “sense of responsibility”.
Last night on TF1, the former president of the RN indicated that she was ready not to present a candidate for the legislative elections against the “patriotic” deputies.
14:12 – The president of the Young Republicans supports Ciotti
Amid the criticism raining down on Eric Ciotti, the boss of LR can count on the support of Guilhem Carayon. “With Eric Ciotti and thousands of Republican activists, we are choosing courage and common sense,” writes the head of the Young Republicans on Mr. Macron’s policy: France first, France always.”
14:05 – “I will never endorse [..] an agreement with the RN”, affirms Gérard Larcher
It is the turn of the President of the Senate to disavow the president of his party: “Following the declarations of Eric Ciotti, I believe that he can no longer preside over our movement and must resign from his mandate as president of the Republicans”, writes Gérard Larcher on
13:51 – “Éric Ciotti deals a terrible blow to the Republican right,” laments Rachida Dati
“When I joined the government, I did not leave my right-wing convictions, I left a political line that was drifting,” comments the Minister of Culture, one of the last defectors from LR to the Macronists . “What I feared has just happened,” writes Rachida Dati on X: “By making the decision to join the RN, Éric Ciotti deals a terrible blow to my political family, the Republican right.”
1:45 p.m. – For Olivier Marleix, Eric Ciotti “must leave the presidency of LR”
The boss of the LR deputies had warned this morning that he would oppose any agreement with the National Rally in the legislative elections. Following the declarations of Eric Ciotti, who wishes to engage his party in an alliance with the RN, Olivier Marleix does not fail to react. “Eric Ciotti only commits himself,” he wants to clarify on X, before deciding: “He must leave the Republican Presidency.”
1:21 p.m. – Eric Ciotti announces “an alliance” with the RN
On TF1, Eric Ciotti wishes to conclude “an alliance” with the RN and announces that he wants his political family to follow him towards this agreement to stand up against Emmanuel Macron and the Insoumis whom he judges to be “the real threat”. This “agreement will concern the entire national territory” specifies Eric Ciotti.
“I hope that all outgoing Republican deputies, there are 61 of us, who wish not to have the RN as an opponent” can benefit from this alliance. “The challenge is to have a powerful group in the National Assembly,” assures Eric Ciotti who indicates that he wants to “preserve our outgoing deputies, I am doing that for them, they will have the guarantee of their re-election in a very clear and indisputable.”
1:00 p.m. – Several LR executives ask Eric Ciotti for explanations
Valérie Pécresse, Laurent Wauquiez, Xavier Bertrand, Jean-François Copé among the LR. Bruno the Mayor, Renaud Muselier at Renaissance, many of them asked for explanations from the President of the Republicans this morning after the announcement in Le Figaro on a potential alliance between RN and LR. Eric Ciotti is due to speak on TF1 at 1 p.m. but if he confirms an agreement between the right and the far right, it is possible that many will oppose it.
“I will never accept a commission with the extremes” indicates Valérie Pécresse. “This is not our vision of France. The one we inherited from General de Gaulle,” explains Olivier Marleix. “The origin of this party […] it is total opposition to the extreme right” recalled Bruno Le Maire.
12:39 – An LR-RN alliance would be “infamy” assures Renaud Muselier
Formerly of the Republicans, the Renaissance president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region also reacted to a potential agreement in LR and RN. “De Gaulle, Pompidou, Chirac: our elders, my masters, our mentors must turn in their graves” he wrote before adding “Free France flouted, the cross of Lorraine humiliated! Where has the family gone policy that I loved and served so much, whose standard I carried with pride and honor? Renaud Muselier then asked “the leaders of the Republicans not to let this infamy happen”.
10:59 – Annie Gennevard affirms that LR wishes to remain “independent”
Annie Gennevard, secretary general of the Republicans, is the guest of BFMTV Tuesday morning. Asked about a potential agreement between the RN and Eric Ciotti, Annie Gennevard reaffirmed the independence of the LR. Explaining that the meeting between the main party executives, including Eric Ciotti and Gérard Larcher, had led to “a position of independence”. “LR must run according to its values” she insisted before warning about potential “false information”, sometimes disseminated during the electoral campaign. However, she explained that she did not have more information on this subject and that if the information from Le Figaro was confirmed, “it would be serious”.
10:40 – Eric Ciotti does not reject Marine Le Pen’s outstretched hand
Eric Ciotti would consider an agreement with the National Rally and should speak on this subject during an 8 p.m. news this Tuesday evening, announces Le Figaro. The boss of the LR who continues to affirm that there will be no agreement with the presidential majority could rally around Marine Le Pen for the next legislative elections. Jordan Bardella having announced this morning that he had met with right-wing executives and that some were ready to work with him, Eric Ciotti should quickly speak to the French and his political family on the strategy for the election on 30 June and July 7.
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In the French political landscape, alliances are sometimes made and unmade as quickly as a dissolution occurs. The proof with the union of the left, buried with Nupes at the beginning of the year, and which was already reborn from its ashes in June, thanks to early legislative elections, with the shadow of Bardella above the heads . Will it be the same for the union of the rights? On the far right in any case, some are visibly hoping for an agreement to obtain seats in the National Assembly.
While Reconquête has been trying since 2022 to establish itself as the killer of the National Rally, Marion Maréchal Le Pen became Eric Zemmour’s emissary this Monday at the RN headquarters, where she met her aunt Marine Le Pen and a Jordan Bardella triumphant, with his 31.45% and 30 seats obtained in the European elections. The granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, also head of the European list, narrowly obtained 5, barely exceeding the 5% mark of votes necessary to have elected representatives in the Parliament of Strasbourg.
“Nothing is decided” according to Bardella
It is therefore a long way from the time when Eric Zemmour made the entire political world tremble, starting with the historic formation of the French extreme right. The Maréchal-Bardella-Le Pen meeting this Monday shows that part of the Zemmour clan has watered down its wine and is ready to discuss an agreement. This is the case of Marion Maréchal in any case, who would not have warned the head of Reconquest of her initiative, according to several media. Enough to suggest that the atmosphere in the young Zemmourist party is not good.
People close to Marion Maréchal stressed the importance of setting up a “coalition of the rights”, considered essential to succeed in installing a majority in the Assembly on July 7. If “nothing was acted upon” this Monday at the RN headquarters according to Jordan Bardella himself, the meeting in any case did not fail to arouse varied reactions within the two camps. Among those close to Marion Maréchal, we believe that it is now a question of setting up “a common platform and a number of constituencies”, to seize this “historic opportunity to be able to participate in real change”.
Other members of Reconquête showed less enthusiasm, fearing that Marine Le Pen’s niece would more simply “deal places for her loved ones or to influence the RN’s line on the union of the rights”, as reported by Le Parisian. Faced with a fait accompli, Eric Zemmour only assured in a laconic tweet that his party “will take its part in the great rally for victory”.
The door open to Marion Maréchal, not to Eric Zemmour
However, according to several media outlets, the RN has its conditions for this gathering: in particular that it takes place with personalities who have shown their “constructive attitude” in the past. Understand: without Eric Zemmour himself. If Marion Maréchal still seems welcome in the Le Pen family, she who has always taken care to distinguish between “adversaries and competitors”, this is apparently not the case for the former polemicist who never held back his blows.
And that’s without even talking about the substance. On what project could the National Rally and all or part of Reconquest come together? On immigration policy itself, deep disagreements exist, with Reconquest pushing for a more radical approach, with proposals like “remigration”, consisting of a return of non-European immigrants and their descendants to their countries of origin . A concept from which the RN has distanced itself.
On the economic level, Marion Maréchal promotes a very liberal vision, contrasting with the line of the RN in recent years, which has broken through into the working electorate with a much more protective discourse.