Éric Ciotti hardly practices dodging when news items arise in the news. The president of the Republicans (LR) depicts them as a symbol of rampant insecurity and a loss of moral benchmarks. Stop talking too quickly. Like this June 8, 2023, where he denounces a “terrorist act” a few minutes after the stabbing of children in Annecy, a qualification not accepted by the courts. This Sunday, November 26, the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes lost his fiery words. The day before, nearly 80 ultra-right activists hooded and dressed in black marched in the popular Monnaie district of Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme), where some of the young people involved in the death of Thomas in margin of a village ball on November 18. Questioned multiple times on BFMTV, Éric Ciotti refuses to condemn this action, taking refuge behind the work of justice.
The elected official assumes the political dimension of his silence. Selected pieces. “What worries me is this climate of terror, of violence, these attacks that must be fought and condemned. You want me to say something else, I won’t tell you.” “I can clearly see a media drift that would like to give facts in reaction to Crépol more importance than Crépol.” What does it matter if the left denounces in unison a “ratonnade”: the silence of Eric Ciotti must give an echo to his condemnation of the murder of Thomas. As if hemiplegia were a guarantee of absolute denunciation of crime.
The RN, engaged in notabilization work, wishes to distinguish itself from radical activists
This Monday, November 27, at the microphone of France 2, Jordan Bardella did not hesitate to comment on the action carried out by ultra-right activists. “We do not respond to violence with violence and we do not respond to violence in society, which is a real debate, with punitive expeditions, with private justice, or with vengeful slogans, we respond to it with “legitimate authority of the State and the force of the laws”, declared the president of the National Rally.
The good student is back on the benches. And here are our two men with their foreheads reversed. But above all driven by different interests. The RN, engaged in work of notabilization, wishes to distinguish itself from the radical activists who have long constituted its praetorian guard. As early as December 2022, Marine Le Pen asked the government to “dissolve” small extremist groups, after the holding of identity rallies on the sidelines of the France-Morocco World Cup semi-final.
Éric Ciotti has no organic links with this fringe of the extreme right. Its objective is not so much to get rid of a history as to pose as a herald of popular anger. Even if it means turning a blind eye to the identity of those who wear it. “Bardella only has one anxiety, which is to appear as extreme right. His strategy is to denounce everything that is extreme right in order to normalize himself, Eric wants to take into account the exasperation of the French, says a close friend of the southerner. He is also influenced by the South and hears what people are saying in his constituency.” An LR executive who saw Eric Ciotti’s intervention live is annoyed: “We find the Ciotti of the French Guantánamo. He is in a bidding war to stand out from Macron but that pushes him into a race for shallot with an almost more republican speech.”
Two parties with opposite destinies
The RN rubs his hands. What better way to make yourself known than to find someone more out of place than yourself? Marine Le Pen experienced this during the presidential election, refocused by the ever more extreme speech of Eric Zemmour. Especially since they are convinced: on security and migration issues, the RN will always be the most identified party. “To exist, Ciotti is in a strategy of one-upmanship, but it is a mistake to want to do more than us on these subjects, adds a frontist deputy. It is we who have the authorship and the credibility on these questions, and Ciotti is just grist for our mill.” In fact, someone close to Jordan Bardella is delighted with this addition of forces, and almost thanks Éric Ciotti: “So much the better, the important thing is to come back to the assassination of Thomas as they did and not let ourselves be poisoned by something else.”
RN, LR. Two parties with opposite destinies. The far-right group is moving towards 2027 with the wind at its back. She can attack her detractors on her own ground, as her image is so established. So, go for the denunciation of the ultra-right: recognition is at this price. Also goes for a spirit of openness on the immigration bill: the status of government party has a cost. The right, for its part, navigates by sight, buried under the tripartition. Éric Ciotti prides himself on wanting to win back the right-wing Macronist electorate and did not hesitate to endorse the pension reform. But this strategic choice has the side effect of intransigence on security and migration issues which blurs the borders with the RN. The quest for differentiation – observed in the immigration bill – confuses LR’s positioning. “The RN has had a comparative advantage on immigration for 30 years, our lieutenant of Eric Ciotti. They can afford to vote for the Darmanin law without being accused of becoming soft. This is less our case.” At the risk of getting lost in a political no-man’s land.