During an election campaign, it is customary to display oneself proudly with one’s rallies. Eric Zemmour is no exception to the rule by going to Normandy on Saturday February 19, accompanied by the former spokesperson for Marine Le Pen and elected representative of the region, Nicolas Bay.
A practicing Catholic, more conservative on societal issues and more liberal in economics than Mr.me Le Pen, the MEP slammed the door of the National Rally (RN) with a bang this week, accusing the party of its “sectarian excesses”. He also filed a complaint for defamation once morest the RN, which accuses him of having “transmitted strategic and confidential elements” to Mr. Zemmour, a « sabotage » which he disputes. After Jérôme Rivière, Gilbert Collard and Maxette Pirbakas, he is the fourth RN MEP to join the rival of Mme The pen. In this fratricidal war on the far right, the RN also lost its only senator, Stéphane Ravier, party figure in the Bouches-du-Rhône.
“The false accusations of the RN are intended to smear me. I didn’t show duplicity, I showed sincerity.underlined Mr. Bay, Saturday, in Port-en-Bessin-Huppain (Calvados), where Mr. Zemmour met fishermen, before going to Pontorson (Manche), near Mont-Saint-Michel, for a outdoor meeting, where he will discuss “French power”according to his campaign team.
“A Question of Civilization”
On Saturday, the Reconquest! candidate, also accompanied by Guillaume Peltier – expelled from the Republicans (LR) following his rallying – began his Norman day with an early meeting with fishermen from Port-en-Bessin-Huppain to discuss the impact of Brexit, the administrative difficulties and the wind turbines he considers “ugly” and “useless”, both on land and offshore. Coming down from a boat named The Grand Charlesthe candidate told the fishermen that they were stuck between “the Greens, extremist leftists”, and the government “technocratic”. “You have to defend your means of subsistence, but also an art of living. It’s a matter of civilization.”he added.
He will also try to take advantage of the current difficulties of Valérie Pécresse and Mme Le Pen, who have had a complicated week, marked by internal criticism and defections from their own camp. In Cannet (Alpes-Maritimes), Friday evening, the candidate LR tried to forget her failed meeting of February 13 in Paris. “There are storms and squalls, but I am a free and indomitable woman. I am calm in the storm, I will stay the course until the Elysée”she notably launched.
“A presidential election is not a reality TV game”
For his part, M.me Le Pen was in Vienne (Isère) to discuss his purchasing power program. After two years of health crisis, “no segment of the population is safe from precariousness”she regretted. “Lower taxes on energy, abolition of income tax for those under 30, lower taxes for families: I have said it, I repeat it, I will be the president of the power of ‘purchase “she said.
The RN candidate also took the opportunity to attack her far-right competitor. “A presidential election is not a reality show. We do not only intend to be the interpreters of a French nostalgia, but to invent and build the France of tomorrow.she insisted, seven weeks before the presidential election, the first round of which will take place on April 10.