the dual role of Eric Ciotti – L’Express

Did the president of LR have this question in mind on Sunday November 26? The deputy for Alpes-Maritimes is invited on BFMTV to comment on the ultra-right demonstration in Romans-sur-Isère, carried out in reaction to the murder of young Thomas. He refuses to condemn the action and depicts a media diversion. As soon as the show was over, the criticisms poured out. Here is the honorable hierarch referred to the promoter of “French-style Guantánamo”. “Lamentable”, “unrepublican speech”, “incomprehensible”, jokes at LR. The person concerned is aware of his mistake. The next day, he castigated a demonstration by “violent morons” but recalled the necessary “hierarchy of information”. “You want me to say something else, I won’t tell you,” he said the day before. He ends up saying it, against the wall.

But that’s how it is. Éric Ciotti wants to show his muscles on security issues. The ultra-right? An obvious gift from heaven to the media left, too happy to avoid hot topics. The president of LR is sailing between two waters. He intends to bring back into his fold the voters seduced by the reformism of Emmanuel Macron, without being accountable for his sovereign record.

Standing out from the head of state is his obsession. Thus, Éric Ciotti boycotted the Saint-Denis meetings on November 17, despite a phone call from the secretary general of the Elysée Alexis Kohler. Officially due to the absence of Emmanuel Macron at the demonstration against anti-Semitism. Above all, he suspects Macronie of having supplied the press with laudatory comments after Jordan Bardella’s performance during the first edition. “The Elysée staged it, he gets annoyed in private. Macron has an interest in bipolarization before the European elections.” Being the slice of ham in the middle of the sandwich, cruel habit of the right. “If he didn’t go, it’s also because of the immigration text, a relative recently noted. He knows that it’s going to be hard to oppose it head-on, but above all he doesn’t want us to be able to say that he is a Macronist.”

Ah, immigration. It must have been so simple. “Pensions yes, immigration no”, prophesied Éric Ciotti to government spokesperson Olivier Véran from December 2022. And what does the firm tone of the project presented by the executive matter. Last May, he proudly posed on the front page of JDD with the presidents of the LR group of Parliament Bruno Retailleau and Olivier Marleix. All submit two legislative proposals to the government, prior to any agreement. “It’s that or nothing,” we sum up. But the division machine is racing. Éric Ciotti sometimes provokes them. Try to reabsorb them, often.

In mid-November, the president of LR clashed with Bruno Retailleau. The Vendéen does not appreciate the criticisms made by his colleague in an interview with Figaro regarding the text adopted in the Senate. Éric Ciotti deplores the maintenance of an article on the regularization of foreigners exercising a profession in shortage. Bruno Retailleau praises a tightening of existing law, Eric Ciotti regrets the very existence of a legislative provision.

The tone rises between the two men, driven by divergent interests. One has the majority in his chamber, the other sits in a heterogeneous opposition group. “Eric had the feeling that Retailleau was pulling the rug over him and forcing the Assembly to vote on the Senate text,” confides a lieutenant. Relations between the two men have since calmed down. “It’s complicated for Éric Ciotti,” admits someone close to Bruno Retailleau. “He feels the risk of division in his group very acutely.” The Nice resident has little authority over these 62 self-employed people, survivors of the right’s electoral routs. The lunches organized with them at the questure create a bond, but not subordination.

The man spends more time plugging gaps than arguing with the executive. This Tuesday, November 28, he goes to the group meeting of LR senators at the request of Bruno Retailleau. Several elected officials are calling for the head of Aurélien Pradié, who accuses the Senate of compromising with the executive. Éric Ciotti does not satisfy them, the party is too weak to afford a Saint-Barthélemy. “If I fire him, I must also cut the Macronist branch of the party,” he explains to them in substance.

This branch does not disarm. Éric Ciotti learned last week that several deputies were preparing a forum reaching out to the government on the immigration bill. Beauvau is aware of this initiative, through Grégory Canal, advisor to Gérald Darmanin. Éric Ciotti dissuades some from signing and manages to remove a sentence considered ambiguous: “The policy of the worst is the worst of policies.”

17 deputies ultimately signed the text, published on November 26 by the Tribune Sunday. Their profiles are diverse. There we find “constructive” deputies like Alexandre Vincendet or Jean-Louis Thiériot, but also Éric Pauget, close… to Eric Ciotti. The initiative nip in the bud any possibility of a LR motion of censure. Eric Ciotti knows how the political reading of the text will go beyond its strict exegesis. But you have to look good. The Nice resident defends in the media the content of a forum with which he is “not in contradiction”. Doesn’t she warn against “unraveling” the Senate text?

The unit is at this price. Eric Ciotti must keep up appearances. “Divisions are his risk, coherence his opportunity. He must show that pensions are behind us,” summarizes MEP Brice Hortefeux. The man hides his game and refrains from any definitive words. They are the boomerangs of tomorrow. During group meetings, he insists on rewriting the law by the majority to save time and avoid angry subjects. The executive notes the “withdrawal” of the Niçois, far from the tempestuous flights of Olivier Marleix. When the president of the LR deputies threatened in the JDD to overthrow the government in the event of recourse to 49.3, this is without having previously informed it. Éric Ciotti did not appreciate being presented with a fait accompli.

One hedge after another. The current one does not displease him. In the Law Committee, the majority meticulously unraveled the muscular text sent by the senators. Exit the abolition of the AME, migration quotas or the reform of nationality law. The article on regularizations written by Bruno Retailleau has been deleted in favor of a more flexible system. But the story is not over. The text could be strengthened in public session from December 11 and cause headaches for the boss of LR. Until then, a little respite. Éric Ciotti confided it to the president of the Law Commission Sacha Houlié: “No LR deputy will vote for the text.” A prediction or a wish?