It was a war expected firmly by the presidential majority. Eric Woerth, a member of the Les Républicains (LR) party, deputy head of the finance committee of the National Assembly and president of the Oise federation of the party, announced his support for Emmanuel Macron for the 2022 presidential election, in a interview with Le Parisien, published midday Wednesday, February 9.
The former secretary general of LR, retired from his political party for several months, argues his choice to support the outgoing head of state rather than Valerie Pecresse, yet designated candidate by his political family, arguing :
« The reality is that I have decided to support Emmanuel Macron. I think he is best able to defend the interests of France and the French. It is the result of a long reflection. I am not transgressive by nature, I understand that this can cause surprise. But I deeply believe that a second term of Emmanuel Macron would be a chance for France, as it would have been the case for Nicolas Sarkozy. »
“No matter what anyone says, he has shown that he knows how to handle the most serious crises. We need reforms and stability. You can’t have a rookie president every five years”, also argues Mr. Woerth to justify his support for Emmanuel Macron.
“My political formation has drifted”
If he expresses his « respect » and its “friendship for Valérie Pécresse”, the former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy makes it known that he “does not adhere to the speech of LR, which describes a France that is not quite the [s]ienne, a nostalgic France, curled up on itself”. “I found that my political party, of which I have been a member since 1981, has drifted”, he argues.
“The mission of a president is to make the French collectively happier. Moreover, one cannot be obsessed only with radical Islamism, even if it is fundamental”, continues the interested party, regretting that it is “unfortunately what emerges from [la] campaign » gentlemanI Pecresse, “as already in the primary” de LR, in December 2021.
Underlining that he tried to ” changing things internally [au parti], without much success”, Eric Woerth defends his decision and argues, despite his expressed opposition to the policy pursued by Mr. Macron over the past five years : “I have evolved, so has Emmanuel Macron’s presidency. I accept all my past words. He has not spent more than other presidents. Contrary to what I have read, it has not “crammed the crate” [expression fréquemment utilisée par Valérie Pécresse]. »
“Yes, I have denounced him sometimes. But he also wasn’t always wrong. What he says regarding the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, I share. A president is not warm water”, believes the deputy of the Oise. “I am also not once morest the verticality of our Ve Republic, but there are intermediate bodies whose role is fundamental and which must be respected”, he continues, acknowledging that“Emmanuel Macron didn’t know much regarding them” and “did not rely on them enough at the beginning of the mandate”.
Christian Jacob asks for his exclusion from LR
The chairman of the finance committee of the National Assembly thus advocates for new reforms, which Emmanuel Macron has begun, according to him, to put in place and that he “must accelerate”, “to go further and faster”, in terms of purchasing power or in the fight once morest ” once morest fundamental injustices”. Clarifying having raised these points with the tenant of the Elysee, he goes on : “I am taking the bet that Emmanuel Macron is sincerely a reformer and that he will be able to use the freedom of this second term”.
On the other hand, he assures, “there is no condition” to his support and he will not, moreover, integrate “neither LRM, nor the majority, as it is constituted today”. “What matters to me is the interest of the country. I don’t want to lie to myself”, continues Mr. Woerth, who claims to be “a man of republican right” and considers that“Emmanuel Macron is no more left-wing than [lui] ».
In the wake of this announcement, the president of LR Christian Jacob told AFP that Eric Woerth might not “under no circumstances” remain a member of the right-wing party and asked him to leave the chairmanship of the finance committee of the National Assembly.
“There is a minimum of dignity to be had towards those who have always been by his side”, defended Mr. Jacob, who reported “a lot of disappointment and regret”. Corn “it must be put into perspective: Eric Woerth is a parliamentarian at the end of his career” and “his court cases probably weighed in” in his decision, he added. Eric Woerth is still being investigated in connection with the financing of Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidential campaign in 2007, and in the case between Crédit Lyonnais and former businessman Bernard Tapie who died in 2021.
About Nicolas Sarkozy, who has not yet taken a position in this presidential election and might hesitate between Emmanuel Macron and Valérie Pecresse, candidate of his political family, Eric Woerth answers : “I will be careful not to speak on his behalf. I am attentive to his freedom. I note that he has not yet taken a position. »
