The great mute of the right has found the word media. After months of well-kept and orchestrated silence, Laurent Wauquiez gave a long interview to the magazine Point, published Thursday, May 11. In politics, any good return must include its mea culpa. This respects tradition, served by a 48-year-old former minister who recognizes “ having taken scars”. “I have, at times, allowed myself to be damaged, dragged down by mediocre politics, by political confrontation and the game of sound bites”confesses the president Les Républicains (LR) of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
So to not be caught in “the drum of the washing machine of the news”, Laurent Wauquiez had decided not to comment on it any longer and had even given up on being a national player for a time. Occupied by his days in immersion with firefighters, police officers or high school students to take the pulse of the country, he left Eric Ciotti to struggle in the middle of the dirty laundry of a broken down family. The new boss of the LR party held it against him a little, especially during the debates on pension reform, which divided the right. But the one who has been conspicuous by his silence in recent months – which has earned him criticism from LR – umes this minimum service. “I chose to take a step back; It’s not just for pensions “, he ures. Before releasing: “I didn’t walk away. »
In recent weeks, others then spoke for him on the right. Some to reaffirm that he remained their natural candidate for the presidential election of 2027 (like the boss of the deputies, Olivier Marleix, Wednesday, on BFM-TV) others to mock, in off, his indecision and polls which always fly low for him, between 4 and 10% in the first round. For its detractors, the Wauquiez candidacy does not take, despite the efforts of Mr. Ciotti, with whom he is allied, in order to give him time to impose his candidacy, without having to go through an internal primary. Especially sincean investigation was opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) after a very expensive dinner organized by his region in the summer of 2022…
The person concerned may have felt the urgency to get out of the woods. In his entourage, a break in the diet was promised ” on the background “, with a real reflection for the country. “When he speaks again, he must impose his themes and manage to create the debate around”, announced the MEP Geoffroy Didier in February. At first, Mr. Wauquiez delivers a dark diagnosis. “We are in a country where decadence is accelerating considerably”. From Michel Houellebecq in the subject, this bedside author who has become a friend.
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