“She does not like to make the buzz …” Valérie Pécresse, a low noise application

In Boulogne-Billancourt,

In the room of the Carré Belle-feuille in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine), Monday evening, nothing is left to chance. Campaign posters are adjusted to the millimeter. French and European flags await on the stage. Neons provide pretty lights. There are even green plants to provide oxygen to the hundreds of people seated. At 7 pm, the room is full. Came to see the last meeting of Valérie Pécresse before the vote of the congress, the sympathizers The Republicans wave the tricolor arranged under their seat. At the top of the stairs, Patrick Stefanini is watching. The campaign strategist checks that no space is empty.

On the screen, the supporters parade in a campaign clip. The image of Nicolas Sarkozy appears, the militants are set on fire. The former head of state has a nice word for his former minister: “When I think of Valérie, I think seriously. She knows her files, she does the job. »Extract from the show Intimate ambitions of M6 is however truncated,
in the process, the former president added : “At times, I would have liked her to have more fantasy. A nice summary of recent months: a low noise campaign, focusing on the seriousness of the project, wanting to be far from the media blasts of its right-wing competitors.

“She has one drawback: she doesn’t like to create a buzz”

In this campaign, Valérie Pécresse never seemed to know her moment. Xavier Bertrand was the first to get started. Leading in the polls, the president of Hauts-de-France then polarized attention for months by refusing to submit to the primary. Then comes the moment Michel Barnier, propelled favorite for his loyalty to the party. Eric Ciotti then takes the light through his iconoclastic positioning, especially vis-à-vis Eric Zemmour.

“She’s the only one who has a successful project. But she has a downside: she doesn’t like to create a buzz. She does not know how to unbutton and take out her guts, ”breathes support from the boss of the Ile-de-France region. Neither the favorite of the polls, nor of the militants since his departure from LR, his opponents almost ignore him during the campaign. “What penalized her was that, for a long time, we did not talk about substance, but internal drums around the primary and Zemmour. As she based her candidacy on her project, it was difficult to emerge. But since the debates, we come out of the Bertrand-Barnier vice, people realize that she is the most competent “, hopes Valentin Vella, one of the persons in charge of” Young people with Valérie “.

On this Monday evening, his supporters praise, once again, the seriousness of the 54-year-old enarque. “Valérie, it’s solid. His project is very successful. It is the right of government, serious and reasonable, which does not tell of carabistouilles and refuses to run behind the lepénistes and Zemmourian excesses, greets Guillaume Larrivé, deputy LR of Yonne. “She built a project, page after page, by adding modernity and authority,” adds MEP Brice Hortefeux. Valérie is determined to put an end to the failed five-year term of Emmanuel Macron, made of social and health mess. “

“It would be easier to come and make promises with platform effects”

In front of her supporters, the person defends her line, liberal on the economy, and firm on the regal. A “breakthrough” project, with Fillonist accents, with 45 billion euros in savings and the elimination of nearly 200,000 civil servant positions, and 15 billion in privatization receipts. The candidate also attacks the “presidential patronage” of Emmanuel Macron. “As I said in Marseille, the billions are like sardines in the Old Port, don’t think you’ll see them right away. With Macron, the addition is after the elections, ”she tackles.

The Ile-de-France president insists on the need to reduce public spending, criticizing her competitors, who are less talkative on the subject. On immigration, Valérie Pécresse claims, again, more seriousness. “We must stop uncontrolled immigration and choose who we want to welcome. But we must not lie, we will need a little immigration, ”she said to an audience then silent.

“This is his signature: seriousness without demagogy or populism. It would be easier to come and make promises with platform effects. But she prefers to bet on credibility. Promise less before and do more after, ”defends Eric Pauget, member of the Alpes-Maritimes at the end of the evening. At the exit, all see their champion qualified in the second round on Thursday and win next Saturday. An activist, however, remains cautious: “For once, it is a ballot without any poll. Everyone is in the dark and can hope to win. “