We knew the “buddies first” of Georges Brassens, there is now, on a completely different register, “Our territories first”, a new political formation with a regional vocation initiated by Renaud Muselier, the president of Provence-Alpes -French Riviera (Paca). More than 200 elected officials from the region signed a platform on Wednesday announcing the creation of this new regional party which will be officially launched on October 14 in Marseille.
“On the ground, the upheaval of political life during the last elections creates a new political space”, believe the elected signatories, according to whom many activists “are looking for a way to get involved”. “Today, we bring this political response by founding a new party, “Our territories first”” which is a “100% regional party”, add in this column published in the local press presidents of departments, metropolises, parliamentarians, mayors, departmental councilors of a region with five million citizens.
“Reasonable people who campaign in political formations are completely lost at the national level,” explained ex-LR Renaud Muselier. “When we give the means to express ourselves kindly, with determination, for the benefit of a collective ambition, it becomes shared and it appeases”, he continued, saying to refuse “nostalgia” and “resignation”. “By the weight of the local, we have the capacity to win all the elections because we are at the service of our fellow citizens”, still judged Renaud Muselier, before adding: “What we have succeeded in the regional is an example in the matter”.
“We are not going to interfere with the national”
During the 2021 regional elections, Renaud Muselier, after a difficult campaign, finally won against the far right led by Thierry Mariani, in particular thanks to the withdrawal of the left. An example of a dam against the far right cited as an example by the socialist president of the Occitanie region Carole Delga.
“There is of course a risk Front [national, aujourd’hui dénommé Rassemblement national] very important at the local level: we are not going to meddle with the national level but we will do our utmost to ensure that the best can win their elections at the local level”, added the president of the region, who, with a majority of 84 elected out of 123, will lead the region until 2028.
The party will not speak in national elections, but “everyone is free to engage individually” otherwise if it is “outside the extremes”, according to the forum. Among the 216 signatories are a majority of elected officials or sympathizers of the classic right and the presidential majority, such as the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Toulon Hubert Falco or the president of the Bouches-du-Rhône department Martine Vassal.
Like Renaud Muselier, they have left Les Républicains in recent months to support Emmanuel Macron in the presidential election. But personalities close to the center or even to the left are also among the signatories, like the former boss of the Vaucluse socialists Jean-François Lovisolo or the ecologists Christophe Madrolle and Jean-Marc Governatori.