Withdrawn on the pension reform at a time when his party saw its deputies divided, the LR president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region believes that he “clearly gave (his) position”. Preparing the ground for the next presidential election, he nevertheless makes a more general mea culpa and recognizes “failures”.
Laurent Wauquiez comes out of the woods. Discreet in the media for months, the president Les Républicains (LR) of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region gave an interview to the weekly Point. The putative candidate for the next presidential election assumes his silence on pension reform.
“I think we have to put everything back together, reinvent everything”, but “we won’t be able to do it by being caught in the drum of the washing machine of the news”, explains- he.
The ex-boss of LR thus points to “political myopia, where no one produces more vision, while the country is going through a major crisis”.
“I did not parade”
Laurent Wauquiez has just started looking for this “vision” in view of 2027. He multiplies his trips away from the cameras to take the pulse of the country. But his distancing could be blamed on him during the examination of the pension reform, while his party was divided, failing to find a common position among its deputies.
At the center of this slump: Éric Ciotti, new president of the party, elected in December on the promise to make the former mayor of Puy-en-Velay the champion of the right for the Elysian race. The situation was all the more delicate as several deputies close to the latter refused to support the pension reform, unlike the Niçois.
“I did not parade”, nevertheless assures the person concerned, believing to have “clearly given (his) position”. During his wishes at the end of January, he had supported the text with lip service, invoking a “principle of responsibility”, consisting of “not opposing”, even if this reform is “not the one” that he would have done.
On this subject, “the French” expect “rules” which “adapt to their way of life”, according to him. “Why not offer the possibility of retiring when they wish by adapting the level of pension accordingly”, he asks. And to deplore that “our administrative rules do everything to discourage this”.
“Ambition is not a dirty word”
If Laurent Wauquiez does not question his strategy on pension reform, the elected official operates a MEA culpa more general to embellish its image and present itself as a new man.
“Yes I have experienced failures, yes I have scars”, admits the one who left the head of his party after the rout of the right in the last European elections (8.5%) in 2019.
“I learned to question myself, it did me a lot of good,” he says, adding that he also “learned the importance of listening and humility”. Before estimating that “it is fundamental when you want to take care of the destiny of a country”. A way of confessing half-word his desire to run for the Elysée.
“Ambition is not a bad word” assures the former Minister of Higher Education. “But it should not be a self-centered ambition, where the only objective is to climb the stairs forgetting why we are in politics”.
“Posture of political criticism”
No more question for Laurent Wauquiez of being “damaged, dragged down by mediocre politics, by political confrontation and the game of sound bites”. Presenting himself in opposition to the “posture of political criticism”, the elected official avoids hitting hard on Emmanuel Macron, aware that many right-wing voters whom he hopes to win back have switched to the side of the Walkers.
The Head of State has “succeeded in things” such as the “reduction of unemployment” or “the recovery of learning”, recognizes Laurent Wauquiez. However, the boss of the Aura region also takes care to distinguish himself: the President of the Republic “has failed to stem the decadence and that is our challenge”, he projects. Same refrain on the diplomatic level. “Emmanuel Macron has succeeded in embodying France internationally”, but “the weight of France has continued to weaken”, according to him.
