The president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is openly running for the Elysée. But can he achieve it?
These are two little sentences that go unnoticed at the end of an interview. They are, however, full of meaning. At Paris Match, Laurent Wauquiez said he was “determined to rekindle the flame of a winning France”. Understand: he aims to play a role in the campaign for the 2027 presidential election. “I am putting all my energy into preparing,” he added in the December 28 edition of the weekly. Enough to lay the groundwork for a candidacy in three and a half years?
At the beginning of October, the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region had already announced that he was “ready” to the Young Republicans. At 48, the former party boss – at the head of his political family during the debacle of the 2019 European elections – wants to be at the forefront during a campaign which promises to be uncertain: succession to Emmanuel Macron, rise of the RN, divisions on the left, LR in recomposition… Sarkozy’s ex-minister seeks to appear as the leading man for the right.
Close to the current head of LR Eric Ciotti, the one who does not want to be in the middle of “the hubbub and the tumult” is slowly advancing his pawns. But clearly. “It will be Marine Le Pen or me” he prophesies, as reported by Le Parisien, sure that “the French will want someone with experience”, he who is regional president (since 2016), and was deputy (2004-2007, 2012-2017), mayor (2008-2016), secretary of state and minister (2007-2012).
However, the “other path” that he explains is already a refrain heard many times: defend “order”, denounce “welfare”, “the bureaucratic machine”, the “waste of public money” , refuse “to turn a blind eye to communitarianism” and “bring together all those who want to bring about a revival in the country”. Words that do not resonate as new to the ears of voters.
Laurent Wauquiez also remains discreet in the media and avoids any daily commentary on national news, unlike another right-wing competitor, David Lisnard, who also tries to permeate public opinion. “He is clearly a head above intellectually, but his strategy is illegible,” confided an LR senator to Les Echos. The daily, however, echoed a confidence from the forty-year-old on his strategy: “I need to get more involved after the Europeans.” History of offering him more than the current 6% of voting intentions to really “rekindle the flame”.