There is a misunderstanding around Eric Ciotti. The right-handed anchorage and the austere appearance of the boss of the Republicans (LR) have placed him in the category of ideologues, inflexible in their convictions and unfit for compromise. Nothing could be more false. Apparatchik forged in the South with the RPR method, the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes is a pure politician. Of those who place the art of negotiation above ideological quarrels. A deal is worth a snake.
Elected on December 11 as president of LR, Eric Ciotti has managed for a month to preserve the unity of the party. The schism promised by his critics did not take place. The boss of the right unveiled this Wednesday evening the new organization chart of LR, while his deputies finally tune their violins on the pension reform. Even the majority is lost in praise about it. “When a person focuses a lot of criticism on them and they turn out to be more open than expected, this powerfully shifts people’s opinions in the other direction. It’s a strong psychological spring, analyzes an LR pillar. ” “He’s neither Goebbels nor Beria, but a beast of adaptability. A real pragmatist,” smiles another.
This plasticity does not prevent mishaps. The Niçois walks on eggshells, each file is a pitfall. The revelation of the new management of LR, the result of a month of internal negotiations, thus triggered several passes of arms. Bruno Retailleau, unfortunate finalist of the LR Congress, deplored on Twitter a non-respect “of the balances resulting from the ballot”. He judges that his political weight is not sufficiently represented in the authorities of the party: his lieutenant Othman Nasrou will have to share with other elected officials the title of deputy secretary general, while the strategic council of LR lacks support from the boss of the senators. LR. Worse, its composition would not even have been discussed upstream. “It’s a warning, says someone close to Bruno Retailleau. A part of the confidence is damaged, but he has no intention of harming the smooth running of things.”
Another disappointed: Aurélien Pradié. The third man in Congress was tipped to occupy the position of deputy vice-president. Alas, he will have to share the chair of executive vice-president with MEP François-Xavier Bellamy, close to Bruno Retailleau. The man is furious, several sources report. “The deal was not respected. There is a subject”, storms a close friend of the deputy of Lot. Composing a flowchart is a thankless task. Expanded, it is taxed as a Mexican army. If it is tightened, accusations of lockdown rain down. “He wanted to give a little to everyone and not what everyone needs,” notes a deputy. “It’s hypercomplicated, with the demands of each other,” tempers an elected official.
Heads I win, tails you lose. Eric Ciotti does not escape this curse. However, he turned into a diplomat for a month, increasing his exchanges with the party’s leaders. The new management team is not lacking in malice. The popular Rachida Dati is propelled to the presidency of the National Council, while Annie Genevard – consensual and respected by her peers – becomes secretary general. By appointing the Bellamy-Pradié duo to the vice-presidency, Eric Ciotti thought of doing a double blow: satisfying the Retailleau camp and containing the influence of the turbulent Pradié, quick to make his little social music heard. Several elected officials feared to see the Lotois, in the sense of the limited collective, at the post of dolphin.
François Hollande paid to learn: political intelligence is good. Efficiency is better. The extended management built by Eric Ciotti does not send a strong political message, so much does it resemble that present under the presidency of Christian Jacob. The Bellamy-Pradié duo is precarious: the two men maintain execrable relations. Herault of a social right, Aurélien Pradié does not share the liberal-conservative line of the professor of philosophy. Ideological incoherence is the price of unity here. The requirement of unity is the ransom of Eric Ciotti’s narrow victory. His 53.6% and his armada of supporters – Wauquiez, chiraco-Sarkozyst networks – do not make him the freest of presidents. He must compose, at the risk of a form of lebanization of the right.
This coherence, Eric Ciotti nevertheless endeavors to preserve it on the thorny issue of pensions. “It’s a very strong introduction”, confided before Christmas the boss of LR. The man wishes to preserve a reforming image of the right with a view to winning back the Macronist electorate in 2027. He privately judges the “Pradié” line incompatible with this objective. No question of dropping the text of the executive. At the end of 2022, he multiplies the exchanges with Bruno Retailleau on pensions, to the detriment of the internal life of the movement. He discovers Elisabeth Borne, with whom he talks on the phone the day before the presentation of the text. An agreement is tied with the government around a postponement of the legal age to 64 years.
During group meetings, the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes is political, urging his troops to preserve the “credibility” of the right. Group boss Olivier Marleix remains more technical. His professorial tone offends some elected officials – his spats with Aurélien Pradié are not uncommon – when Eric Ciotti oil the wheels.
“If we have found a form of unity on pensions, it is thanks to him”, notes a deputy, yet far from his obedience. “His approach is courageous, and brings the Senate and the Assembly closer together”, abounds Michèle Tabarot, new president of the National Investiture Commission (CNI) of LR. Eric Ciotti, strange ally of Emmanuel Macron. The man has an ace up his sleeve: his anti-Macronism, which protects him from all suspicion. “Under this legislature, the more anti-Macron you are, the more you can deal with the government, notes Loire deputy Antoine Vermorel-Marques. It is counter-intuitive but it avoids accusations of compromise by his own camp.
Like Aurélien Pradié, a dozen LR deputies say they are however ready to vote against the pension reform. Some are tempted to abstain. Eric Ciotti, institutional leader but not the natural leader of his camp, exercises little authority over these auto-entrepreneurs, elected on their behalf. A danger, as the vote of the law could be tight under this relative majority. Without the threat of arms, the art of diplomacy has its limits.
