The deputy of Lot Aurélien Pradié is gradually establishing itself as an essential figure of the Republicans, embodying a new generation in search of new breath. His candidacy for the presidency of the party is not in doubt.
The summer begins in a political context that is, to say the least, unprecedented. While the most frontal opposition to the government – but also the most audible – is embodied by the Nupes and the National Rally, the Les Républicains party retains major political weight: majority in the Senate, it is also sufficiently constituted in the National Assembly to establish itself as essential for the presidential majority, which needs the right of government to pass its reforms, even if it means negotiating them one by one. But LR has never been so weakened and the risk of its disappearance is real, at a time when the recomposition of the political field is consecrating, at the ballot box, a Macronism / left / nationalist right tripartism.
LR is at a crossroads in its political history: how to exist between Renaissance and the National Rally? What strategy to adopt for 2027? How to be heard during the quinquennium? What place for the younger generation? Aurélien Pradié, re-elected MP for the 1st constituency of the Lot after having received the distinction of “MP of the year” by Le Trombinoscope, answered our questions. Considered a rising figure of the new generation, he pleads for the social wing to occupy more space on the right. If he still hesitates to run for the presidency of the party, his determination is obvious… For Linternaute, he returned to the need to rally a right-wing government in full metamorphosis.
Linternaute.com – The government wanted to turn to the right embodied by LR to seal alliances. However, you have been clear about the impossibility of serving as a practical ally to Emmanuel Macron. Reasoning on a “case by case” basis, isn’t this risking triggering blockages? Are you aware of the threat of a dissolution of the Assembly?
Aurelien Pradié – Dissolution is expert fantasy. There will be no dissolution! Personally, my concern, and that of the entire Republican right, is to defend the French. For several weeks, we have shown that we are a useful opposition. On the deconjugalization of the Disabled Adult Allowance, we managed to reach out to the government. On the price of fuel, we won the case. On the tax exemption of overtime or the digitization and transformation into wages of RTT, we imposed our point of view. That’s all that matters: the French realize that the deputies who are most useful to them today are the combative, serious deputies, that is to say us. We get things done without compromise; I personally have no vocation to ally myself with Emmanuel Macron but I have a vocation as a deputy to reach out to him on subjects that serve the general interest.
“Dissolution is expert fantasy. There will be no dissolution!”
The RN, which made a historic breakthrough during these legislative elections, is settling comfortably and permanently in the institutional landscape. They have more chosen ones than you. How do you react when you see them taking up so much space in the media and in the Assembly to your detriment?
The National Rally and the Insoumis embody, each in their own way, a sterile and useless opposition. There is not a single subject on which these deputies have made progress; not a single one of their amendments was adopted. They make a lot of noise: some are bawling in ties, others in caps… But the result is basically the same. They do nothing for the French; it is only political communication.
Basically, aren’t there more and more ideological rapprochements between LR and the far right? Eric Ciotti said all the good things he thinks of Eric Zemmour … In terms of identity and security, the LR line is closer to the RN than to LREM, right?
The kiss with the Rassemblement National is the kiss of death. We will disappear the minute we advance towards them; I have nothing to do with them, I have big ideological differences with them, which I fully assume. My name is neither Eric Ciotti nor Eric Zemmour. But what I can say is that the elected National Rally bring nothing to the French, they are only agitators. They may seem a little more respectable for some time, they are still the same agitators without ideological foundation. Neither RN nor Macron, that’s how we should chart our course.
The forces of the left have evolved a great deal, the social democratic line has become marginalized behind the more radical Mélenchon line. Today, the right seems to send “back to back” the radical left and the extreme right. In your eyes, is LFI as dangerous as the RN?
“I assume to say that the Insoumis killed the Republican left.”
The Socialists have lost their soul in this unnatural alliance with Jean-Luc Mélenchon. They have lost the republican soul; the Insoumis are not republicans since they dispute even the organization of the Republic. Their agitation, their violent political attitude stem from a desire to overthrow our institutional model. When I hear them questioning the main principles of the Republic such as secularism, I wonder about their integration into the Republic. I assume to say that the Insoumis killed the Republican left. We on the right, we have a space as long as we manage to impose our republican DNA and speak to all French people. But today, the French right no longer speaks to anyone. We need to renew the dialogue with modest people, business leaders, young people. We need to talk about major environmental issues, social mobility… All these subjects that we have forgotten for a while.
“If we don’t become a popular right again, then we will disappear.”
You have often committed yourself to social issues such as poverty, disability, violence against women. Do you belong to the social wing of the party?
This social wing exists more than ever at a time when the French need justice. Being fair means being tough on those who don’t follow the rules, but also being able to protect our fellow citizens. The French right should not just be a punishment, it should be a protection. When we work on these themes such as disability and domestic violence, we show that the right knows how to be fair. This is a major challenge; if we don’t become a popular right again, then we will disappear. Me, I don’t believe in the right of the telephone booth of the between-selves; moreover, we saw electorally that it did not represent much. The right only makes sense if it is intended to bring people together. It is a challenge that with some, I gave myself.
Could you take up the challenge by presenting yourself at the congress for the election of the party president to be held in November? When are you going to decide?
I’m thinking about it very seriously because I think there really is a need for change on the right. We cannot be in eternal repetition with always the same matches being played. What is certain is that I will go from words to deeds at some point, to breathe new life into the French right. Party members and militants know me well; I was national secretary for five years, they see all the work that I accomplished, my seriousness; they know I can muster.
In this vein of gathering, if you acceded to the post of party president, what would be your first actions, your priority projects?
“Now is the time to do it, and my decision will be made by the start of the school year.”
I can’t tell you right now. But I know what to avoid. You don’t need a president by proxy or by default, and especially not someone who leaves the party static. It takes someone with a lot of energy, who is ready to rebuild the house, to organize a founding congress, to change their name, their political discourse, to open doors and windows. We need a president who knows how to bring people together; if it leads us to implosion, it will be the sure death of the party. No one wants this death, so what I can do is gather. It’s time to do it, and my decision will be made by the start of the school year.
“Yes, we need change: in any political family, we need to breathe from time to time.”
Laurent Wauquiez does not want the post of president of LR: he intends to gather more widely for his candidacy in 2027. This personal decision weakens the party, when he himself admits that the political space of LR is already too narrow. Isn’t this a worrying decision for the future of the party?
This requires a complete reorganization of our dynamics. So far, it has been assumed that the political party is a machine for carrying a presidential candidate. I think that today, it is changing: we focus more on the interests of the party as a whole. So I do not think that this decision by Laurent Wauquiez weakens: it allows the party and the president of the party to take risks. The future party president must shake the coconut tree, not put the house to sleep.
You are a face of this new generation that wants to rebuild. What ideas and values differentiate you from the “historical party pillars”?
For me, it’s not a war of generations. The new generation can be a driving force by working with the old. It is joining together that will give us strength. On the other hand, yes, we need change: in any political family, we need to breathe from time to time. We cannot eternally reproduce the same mistakes or build with yesterday’s recipes. The young deputies and local elected officials have proven themselves: they have been re-elected, which proves that a bond of trust has been established. They are able to speak to everyone, to all those to whom we no longer speak. What do we say to low-income families? To those who work hard? To business leaders? These fights, it is easier for us young people to carry them out.
Olivier Marleix was elected president of the LRs in the Assembly on June 22 by beating Julien Dive, a “representative” of the new guard of the party who carried a “renewal of practices and ideas”. Is this the first failure of the young LR generation?
Olivier Marleix is a very good group president. And then, the party is not just the group. Our members want, beyond their political loyalty, to see that the party breathes, evolves. We are complementary, and that is very good.
Finally, on a local scale, you were re-elected in the Lot after an active campaign on the ground. What are the specificities of this region, its needs? Do you have examples of projects to carry out for them?
What we have done in the Lot is what we can do across the country. I have worked on health, environment, education and safety issues. My values and my right-wing convictions did not prevent a plural gathering: we will do it for all of France.