As the 2022 polls approach, there will be crowds this Tuesday in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises. Jean Castex as well as several presidential candidates will indeed go to this land of pilgrimage of historic Gaullism, on the occasion of the 51st anniversary of the death of Charles de Gaulle.
This Haute-Marne village, visited each year by more than 100,000 people, is this year a must for many candidates for the Elysée, from the right but also from the left. The symbol is indeed strong: it is in his residence in La Boisserie that the general died on November 9, 1970 at the age of 80.
A 43.50 m high cross
From the park of this manor house, visitors can see the monumental cross of Lorraine in pink granite, 43.50 meters high. “After my death, a large Lorraine cross will be erected on the highest hill, behind my house,” General de Gaulle had wished. “And since there is no one around, no one will see her.” It will incite rabbits to the Resistance, ”he added, according to a joke reported by André Malraux.
The rabbits will have at least one occupation this year: counting the contenders for the Elysée chair who have come to have their picture taken. In the majority, Jean Castex will lay a wreath on the tomb of the man of June 18 around 10 am, then will participate in the ceremony in front of the Cross of Lorraine, symbol of resistance. In full internal competition on the right, the day after their first televised debate, the five candidates for the LR nomination – Michel Barnier, Xavier Bertrand, Eric Ciotti, Philippe Juvin and Valérie Pécresse – will also be on the move, as will Christian Jacob the party chairman.
Fighting Eric Zemmour
On the left, two personalities make it a symbol this year in the fight against the “appropriation” of history by Eric Zemmour. Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo, who already attended the ceremony every year as mayor of Paris, intends this time “to put history in its place”, according to her entourage. On the 10th, she will also lay three wreaths in tribute to Christian, Muslim and Israelite fighters at the Necropolis of Douaumont. The former socialist minister Arnaud Montebourg, also a candidate, launched “an appeal to all those, from the Communists to the Gaullists, who inherited Free France and the National Council of the Resistance, to go to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises to form a wall of silence and silence Mr. Zemmour ”.
Eric Zemmour will not however come to Colombey while rumors – denied by his entourage – have circulated on a possible announcement of candidacy on the spot. “On the eve of the presidential election, everyone comes (to Colombey). The following year, I’m all alone, ”for his part quipped the sovereignist candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, present every year, as the former right-hand man of Marine Le Pen and president of the Patriots, Florian Philippot.