Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France regional council – O. Aballain
- Xavier Bertrand is a candidate for his own succession at the head of Hauts-de-France.
- He also formalized his intention to run for the 2022 presidential election.
- Xavier Bertrand nevertheless assured that his political life would be over if he lost the regional elections.
The president (ex-LR) of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, declared presidential candidate, assured on Friday that his political life would be over if he lost in the regional elections in June.
“It is a question of legitimacy” because “if six years later [l’élection à la tête de la région] I do not have the confidence “of the voters of Hauts-de-France,” I cannot go and seek the confidence of 67 million French people “, he explained on franceinfo.
“My primary, it will be the regional ballot”
“Things are very clear: if I lose, it will be the end of my political life”, added the one who presents himself as a candidate “free, independent” of the parties, even if he keeps “good relations” with his former party The Republicans.
On March 25, Xavier Bertrand caught his potential right-wing rivals by surprise by formalizing his presidential candidacy by reiterating his refusal to go through a primary. “My primary, it will be the regional ballot of Hauts-de-France,” he said last August to Corsica Morning, in the interview where he took his first step towards a candidacy.
Unfolding the main thrusts of the program exposed in an interview with Point last week, Xavier Bertrand said he wanted to offer the French “a real gathering” and “another way”, around the “reestablishment of authority, the value of work and a change of society” through the “territories “.
If elected, he will submit to the French by referendum “in the autumn” of 2022 a modification of the Constitution allowing the creation of a 50-year security sentence for the perpetrators of terrorist acts.
On the issue of migration, he pleaded for a policy of “quotas according to the jobs we need” and the “end of laxity”. He also advocated “mobilizing businesses” on the issue of working time, with the idea that “if we work more we must necessarily earn more”.