The LR president of the Right, Center and Independent ”group of the Lyon city council announced Friday, November 5 that he was terminating his functions in this group, after controversial remarks about Eric Zemmour and the Vichy regime.
“I do not intend to allow a climate of mistrust to persist within my group. I am therefore immediately putting an end to my function as president, ”declared Etienne Blanc, also a senator from the Rhône, in a press release.
Words favorable to Eric Zemmour
His decision follows a statement released by two of the main elected officials of the municipal right, Pascal Blache, mayor (DVD) of the 6th arrondissement, and Pierre Olivier, mayor (LR) of the 2nd, affirming that his statements to the JDD were “condemned unanimously” within the group.
In an interview published Sunday, October 31, Etienne Blanc said in particular that for “70 to 80%” of LR activists, Eric Zemmour asks the right questions. “And opposite, you have officials who say that Zemmour hysterizes the debate (…) There is a hiatus, and if this is not resolved when choosing the candidate, we do not know what can happen” .
Regarding the policy of the Vichy regime towards the Jews, he had also declared: to flee the Nazi regime? I cannot answer ”.
An irreconcilable dispute
In his press release, Etienne Blanc returns to this sentence by arguing that he is not a “historian”. And ensures that “throughout (his) political life”, he “expressed his rejection of anti-Semitism”. “This controversy bothers me,” he said while regretting having caused “an emotion and a misunderstanding, even within” the municipal group he chairs.
A meeting Thursday, November 4 between the elected officials of the municipal right and their president confirmed “an irreconcilable dispute”, especially as the statements to the JDD intervened after “many personal initiatives which could not engage the whole group”, according to the press release from his running mates.