The date was carefully chosen (the day after the anniversary of General De Gaulle’s appeal from London in 1940), and this somewhat pretentious comparison has already raised eyebrows. But where does the former collaborator of President Jacques Chirac, who is known for his political and personal rivalry with the current occupant of the Elysée, Nicolas Sarkozy, ultimately want to go?
We asked his local representative, the head of “Club Villepin 06,” Alain Chateau, a 47-year-old Parisian engineer who has been living in our department for about fifteen years.
“Dominique de Villepin wants to engage with passion and determination for a fairer and more united France, oriented towards the future. This stems from an observation: faced with a deep economic crisis, synonymous with suffering, inequality, and exclusion, the French no longer identify with current society. Our fellow citizens have lost all confidence in a political class that they believe no longer defends the founding values of our Republic.”
Nice Premium: Hence this direct descent into the arena…
Alain Chateau: Faced with the extreme urgency of the situation, Dominique de Villepin claims to follow the social Gaullism line and, drawing from his experience as a statesman, he aims to gather people beyond partisan divides to work towards the reconciliation and reconstruction of a strong and ambitious France. The Villepin Clubs today and the political movement after June 19 are the places that bring together men and women from all political backgrounds, eager to accompany Dominique de Villepin in his approach for a more unified Republic and a France asserting its voice on the international stage.
NP: How does your club operate in the Alpes-Maritimes?
Alain Chateau: We have about 300 members with around thirty active militants and a board of 10 people who organize activity. Our approach is recent, so we are still in the process of organizing. We plan to soon define discussion topics such as: The development of the department, Living together, France and the European Union, Why are the French uninterested in politics? Alongside this, we will have to equip ourselves with a functional organization and a territorial organization.
NP: What will happen concretely after June 19?
Alain Chateau: June 19 will be the birth date of the political movement with its own name, which will be revealed that day in the continuity of Dominique de Villepin’s speech on March 25. From there, the Villepin Clubs, whose current 1901 law associative structure cannot be associated with a political electoral approach, will disappear, and its members will have to join this new political party.
NP: What are the current structures of the Villepin Clubs?
Alain Chateau: Its national president is Madame Brigitte Girardin, a former Minister, and its political relay is Deputy Jean-Pierre Grand. We count about fifteen deputies among our supporters and members, given that, as things stand, the Villepin Clubs can accept people who retain their membership in another political party. The total number of people who have given their support to our initiative at the national level is approaching 15,000, but I will not hide from you that we have much more ambitious goals, aiming for the symbolic figure of 100,000 members for the future party.
NP: It seems obvious that you are already engaged in the electoral competition for the 2012 Presidential election…
Alain Chateau: I would answer you with the words of Dominique de Villepin: “If the conditions in France require it, I will not shy away from this duty!”
For more information: [clubvillepin06@laposte.net](mailto:clubvillepin06@laposte.net)
