By proposing to the Republicans to engage in a lucid and “without taboos” introspection of their strengths and their weaknesses, Éric Ciotti wants to pose these “general states of the right for France” as the first stone of an essential reconstruction.
During the internal campaign for the presidency of the party, after the historic earthquake of a 4.78% presidential defeat in the first round, we remember that all the candidates in the running had pointed out the absolute need to rebuild the movement “of floor to ceiling”. In shock, LR had managed to maintain a certain unity around the unfortunate candidate, Valérie Pécresse. But, inevitably, the internal battle for the presidency of the party had ended up inflaming tensions between the Ciotti, Retailleau and Pradié camps. Once elected, President Ciotti had the heavy task of putting the pieces back together while being faced with a very complicated double challenge: ensuring the cohesion of the first parliamentary battles and launching the immense project of internal reconstruction.
At the time of the opening of these states general, the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes can count on several new tools already started or about to start: a tightened executive at the head of the party, a shadow cabinet, an internal media, a training academy, an external think-tank open to civil society, a new communications department, a new headquarters by January… With this arsenal, President LR hopes first of all to have the technical means for a rebound , make the right more audible in the political debate, between a macronist majority naturally very exposed and radical oppositions which have managed to be more visible than Les Républicains in the National Assembly.
But, to find their voice, Les Républicains also measure the urgency of consolidating their ideological line. They know that they absolutely must define who they are and what they want to embody on a political scene where many benchmarks have disappeared. This urgency is also posed at the heart of the Estates General organized on Saturday in Paris. Testimonies and a round table moderated by Senator Bruno Retailleau are planned to clear the ground. Republicans want to understand the reasons why voters left them and find ways to assert their identity in a country that “has never been so right”, as they hammer.
Weakened by the sequence of retreats, during which their divisions were brought to light, they managed to take control of immigration by placing their markers in the heart of an emergency where the macronists and the RN were forced to position. Even the president of Horizons, Édouard Philippe, considered it urgent to intervene on the migration issue by sharing certain alerts launched by LR. Taking note of Laurent Wauquiez’s calendar, which we will not see on the Cirque d’Hiver stage on Saturday, Éric Ciotti also takes care to postpone the delicate question of the presidential candidacy to a later date. These general states must be those of the assembly. No need to hurt personal ambitions before seeing more clearly about those of the Republicans.
A day at the Cirque d’Hiver. Hosted by Rachida Dati, president of the LR national council, and Geoffroy Didier, MEP, the states general of the right are held on Saturday at the Cirque d’Hiver, in Paris (11th arrondissement), from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. After an introduction entrusted to the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, Les Républicains will enter directly into the heart of the matter via an inventory of the right, a qualitative and quantitative Louis Harris poll, and testimonies shared live. Why did members leave LR? Why would they be willing to come back? Éric Ciotti is expected to deliver his speech around 12 p.m. Immediately afterwards, a round table on the identity of the right will be moderated by Senator Bruno Retailleau and various intellectuals. Then the deputy Olivier Marleix will in turn try to define a course by giving the floor to people from civil society, witnesses of certain sectors in crisis (hospital, rurality, business, education, agriculture). Finally, after a “humor” sequence, Les Républicains will outline avenues for their recovery and will be invited to listen to a conversation on wokism bringing together essayist Éric Naulleau and sociologist Mathieu Bock-Côté. The final word will be entrusted to Éric Ciotti, conductor of the Estates General.
