Eric Ciotti denounced what he considers to be “a low maneuver by the macronie” by discovering that the candidates he nominated were labeled “Union of the extreme right”. For his part, Jordan Bardella struggled to convince Medef about what will happen to the pension reform.
The essential
- In front of Medef this Thursday, Jordan Bardella struggled to establish a clear line on his position on the subject of pension reform and in particular the postponement of the legal retirement age. The latter had promised that its repeal would take place in the fall in the event of victory. It will finally intervene in a “second phase”. Faced with employers, the president of the RN got bogged down between early departure at 60 years old, and maintaining the postponement of the legal age to 64 years old. In front of him, a company representative admitted to being “a little lost”.
- For his part, Eric Ciotti deplored that the candidates favorable to the RN-LR alliance were classified by the Ministry of the Interior for the early legislative elections in the “union of the extreme right” political family.
- On Wednesday June 19, Eric Ciotti indicated in an interview with Le Figaro that he fully assumed the decision of a coalition with the National Rally for the legislative elections. For the LR boss, this “union of the rights is the only bulwark against a victory for the extreme left and a continuation of Macronism in power”.
- Eric Ciotti could finally be ordered to pay a heavy fine due to the non-respected parity regarding the 62 candidates of the RN-LR alliance. Indeed, within the right-wing gathering, also nicknamed the “friends of Eric Ciotti”, there are 5 times more men than women. The tolerated margin of difference is 2%.
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11:00 – Is the LR-RN alliance effective according to the polls?
According to an OpinionWay survey for CNews, Europe 1 and JDD carried out from June 18 to 20, which invited participants to answer the question “if the first round of the legislative elections took place next Sunday, which of the following candidates would you vote for in your constituency?”, the RN and its allies collected 35% of the voting intentions, ahead of the New Popular Front by several points with 27%. The presidential majority places third with 20%. In comparison with the last OpinionWay barometer of Friday June 14, the RN gains 3 points, NFP 2 and Ensemble 1.
Conversely, parties like LR (7%) lost two points, just like Reconquest (2%). Frédéric Micheau, deputy general director of OpinionWay, estimates from CNews, in view of his results, that the progression of the RN can partly be explained by the alliance put in place with Eric Ciotti. “There is a part of the Reconquest and LR electorates who are leaning towards the RN candidates.”
10:45 – What program is defended by Eric Ciotti?
On the program side, Éric Ciotti supports one of the priorities put forward by the RN: restoring purchasing power to the French, notably by reducing VAT “which weighs on the cost of energy, fuel, electricity.”. Such a measure would be very expensive: “It costs several billion euros and we assume it,” admitted Éric Ciotti. Another important point particularly highlighted by President LR: “suppress the Region”. “A Region which is of no use. It’s one level too many. We need proximity. The municipalities, the Departments are enough to act”, assured the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes. According to him, it is also necessary to eliminate civil servant positions, which he considers too numerous.
10:25 – Eric Ciotti places the “friends of Mr. Mélenchon” as his main adversaries
“I built this alliance and I take responsibility for it, I claim it. (…) I realized that my political family had today become too weak to carry out this reform itself. So it was necessary find alliances and I found them,” insisted Eric Ciotti for France bleu Côte d’Azur. He places “Mr. Mélenchon’s friends” as his primary campaign adversaries: “We would go from a democracy to a dictatorship with M. Mélenchon in power,” he assures.
09:58 – “The French suffer from insecurity very linked to immigration” indicates Eric Ciotti
“I built this alliance and I take responsibility for it, I claim it. I did it with transparency to provide answers, so that we can turn the country around. I am very comfortable” declared Eric Ciotti , still technically boss of LR despite being banned from his camp, this Friday morning on France Bleu Azur. “I believe that for years we have seen our country fall and I have always denounced this fall. Today, we are at a historic turning point. The French are suffering, they are suffering from a crisis of purchasing power , they suffer from insecurity, an insecurity very linked to immigration and they have been waiting for answers for decades, they have not arrived. I have realized that my political family has today become too weak. carry out this reform itself. So we had to find alliances and I found them,” he continues.
Before warning the French against what he considers to be the “extreme left” bloc. “If we don’t want to, Mr Mélenchon at Matignon, Madame Rousseau at Beauvau, Madame Rima Hassan at the Quai d’Orsay, well we have to vote for our alliance. The rest will be of no use, it will be a useless vote”, said concluded the one who is a candidate for re-election in the 1st constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes.
Legislative: “We are at a historic turning point (…) I built this alliance, I take responsibility for it, I claim it” says Éric Ciotti, outgoing deputy for the 1st constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes and president of the banned Republicans from his camp after his alliance with the RN pic.twitter.com/I3r63dxtRq
— France Bleu Azur (@francebleuazur) June 21, 2024
09:39 – Employers “perplexed” and “lost” in the face of Bardella’s line on pensions
On the subject of pensions, the president of the RN Jordan Bardella appeared destabilized in front of Medef this Thursday, particularly when addressing the question of postponing the legal retirement age. Once promised, the repeal of the pension reform implemented by Emmanuel Macron was finally postponed to a “second phase” by the National Rally, even in the event of victory in the Legislative Assembly on July 7. Enough to destabilize the business leaders who came to listen to him. One of them said he was “a little lost” and acknowledged “his perplexity” in the face of the MEP’s comments.
For his part, Jordan Bardella supported it, it will allow “long careers” to retire at the age of 60, with 40 years of contributions and facilitate early departures at 60 for all those who started to work before the age of 20. On the other hand, he did not close the door to maintaining the postponement of the legal retirement age set at 64 years. In the columns of Le Figaro, Medef boss Patrick Martin regretted the RN’s “backpedaling” on pension reform. According to him, the decisions announced by the boss of the Lepenist party would go “against the need to produce more and re-industrialize”.
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Eric Ciotti caused an earthquake in his party by calling for an alliance with the National Rally for the legislative elections, the first round of which will take place on June 30. “All outgoing Republican deputies who wish not to have an opponent from the RN may not have a competitor,” he declared. He thus hopes to guarantee his political family “to have the same number of seats” in the National Assembly. It had 61 before the dissolution. “We need an alliance, while remaining ourselves (…) with the National Rally and with its candidates,” assured the man who had nevertheless declared in the past that he would never associate with Marine Le Pen.
Jordan Bardella, for his part, announced that there would be an agreement with “several dozen” LR deputies who will be “invested” or “supported” by his party. He also argued with Marine Le Pen that RN candidates might not be presented against outgoing LR deputies.
On the Republican side, Eric Ciotti is being rejected from all sides, with some going so far as to ask for his resignation from the party. A real split could be created among the Republicans, torn between the macronie, the RN and their desire for independence.
If the possible RN-LR alliance is at the center of concerns, the Maréchal-Bardella-Le Pen meeting on Monday shows that part of the Zemmour clan is also ready to discuss an agreement. 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. According to Jordan Bardella, however, nothing has been decided at the moment.
In the middle of the campaign, Eric Ciotti is the target of an investigation for “embezzlement of public funds” during the 2022 legislative campaign. He also assured that he had received death threats following his alliance with the RN.