The leadership team of the Republicans is revealed. Elected in December, Eric Ciotti announced the names of the personalities who will surround him at the head of the party. The deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes will have two executive vice-presidents by appointing Aurélien Pradié and François-Xavier Bellamy within a “gathering team”. But the architecture is already criticized by Bruno Retailleau.
“I wanted this management team to be (…) the reflection of the unity found”, explained Wednesday to the Figaro the new president, who was elected in the second round against Bruno Retailleau with 54% of the vote, a measured success forcing him to find a clever balance so that all forces are represented.
Reviews of the Retailleau camp
Bruno Retailleau himself has declined any “major responsibility” to “focus on the presidency of the group in the Senate”, according to Eric Ciotti. But the senator from Vendée reacted curtly to the announcement of this organization chart in the evening, believing that it “does not take into account the balances resulting from the ballot”. “Our agreements are not respected. I regret. Trust is the essential prerequisite for unity, “he said. added on Twitter.
According to someone close to Bruno Retailleau, “there was in the agreement a post of deputy secretary general for Othman Nassrou” who was campaign spokesperson “but we discovered that it was diluted in the middle of three others”. In addition, elected officials “who were to appear in various places in the bodies no longer appear there”.
Note in the organization chart broadcast by LR in the evening, the promotion of Rachida Dati, “undoubtedly the most popular figure in our political family today”, at the head of the national council. The former Sarkozyist minister, who had warmly welcomed Éric Ciotti in Paris during the campaign, “also embodies the hope of seeing us conquer the capital”, which “will be a major step towards national victories”, affirms the president of the left.
Laurent Wauquiez, Xavier Bertrand, Valérie Pécresse…
Annie Genevard, who had acted as interim head of LR, will become general secretary of the party and the former European negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, will be in charge of international relations. As for the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Michèle Tabarot, a close friend of the new president, she will chair the national commission of investiture, a strategic position so far occupied by Éric Ciotti. The strategic committee will continue to integrate the “great figures” of the party such as Laurent Wauquiez, Xavier Bertrand or Valérie Pécresse, as well as, on the parliament side, Gérard Larcher, Bruno Retailleau and Olivier Marleix.
Eric Ciotti intends to appoint “in the coming days” a “shadow cabinet” (decal of government) of about twenty members. “We are an opposition party with the vocation of becoming a government and right-wing party again”, assures the new boss of LR, for whom “we are not intended to be the auxiliaries of a power which is completing its race” .