Edouard Philippe launches a charge against the candidates for the LR nomination

Even if he is not a candidate, Edouard Philippe is indeed determined to be active in the debate of the presidential campaign. The former Prime Minister thus landed his arrows on Tuesday against his former party, in the hope of moving their voters towards En Marche. In the Figaro, he regrets that the candidates for the LR nomination for the presidential election “reduce all public debate” to questions of immigration and security.

“That immigration and security are serious subjects and cause some form of worry or fear, it is obvious. From there to reducing all the public debate to these subjects, I refuse to do so, ”he explains. The former head of government considers “extravagant (…) this capacity of LR to present a succession of measures that would apply immediately, without looking at either the long term or the international context”.

A blow against Sarkozy

Quoting former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who believes that “the migration crisis has not started”, the former Prime Minister considers that “as long as we do not talk about these fundamental movements, and how to take them head-to-head, I’m afraid we’re just stirring up the foam ”. For Edouard Philippe, who has just founded his own party called Horizons and will support Emmanuel Macron in 2022, “LR lacks this depth of field”.

“Today, there are five candidates who want to have their ambitions refereed by 150,000 people and who give the impression of competing for the one who will be the most to the right, the most affirmative, the most voluntary”, notes t he, with the approach of the LR congress from December 1 to 4, which must decide between the five candidates running from the right for 2022. “As if to solve a problem, it was enough to show one’s will. All French people know very well that it is much more complicated than that ”. For him, “apart from Eric Ciotti, who is the most coherent and the most constant, any other candidate invested by the LR congress will refocus his speech quite quickly”.

“Esteem” and criticism

He says he has “esteem for many LR candidates for this primary” and “knows them sincerely in love with France. But I no longer recognize myself in some of their proposals or in their choices. They sided with systematic opposition, ”he adds. Finally, he considers the far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour “overheated”, and does not see “the French entrust the fate of the country to someone who is the new face of old instincts”. One thing is certain: the campaign is in full swing.