A week after the Touquet meeting, it is the Mediterranean Sea that will host the UMP troops for CampusNice organized by Jeunes Pop 06, led by Marine Brenier, assistant to Christian Estrosi at the Nice city hall.
On the agenda: How to revive a party that has been unable to maintain a clear and readable political line in recent years, first managed personally by an overlord following the principle “cuius regio eius religio,” then boosted by the presidential victory in 2007, weakened by the financial crisis starting in 2008, and finally shaken by the presidential defeat in 2012.
From there, it was chaos: a rigged internal election in the autumn of that same year 2012, followed by the Sarkhoton affair and the Bygmalion affair…
Today, there is a full-blown psychodrama awaiting the return, or not, of the former president of the Republic (who in the meantime has become a “providential man”), followed by, in November, the election of the party president with two declared candidates (Bruno Le Maire and Hervé Mariton) and another anticipated or hoped-for candidate (Nicolas Sarkozy), then in 2016 the right-wing primary for the presidential election with already registered candidates (Alain Juppé, François Fillon, Xavier Bertrand) or others announced like Christian Estrosi, (personally, or as a placeholder for the said Nicolas Sarkozy?).
After all this, questioning the political line of the party becomes an act of faith.
In fact, the party today is an addition of personal potentates, an alliance for power where everyone plays their own part with labels that serve as much as advertising slogans: Gaullist (with a social variant), liberal, strong right, etc…
The key axes, values, vision, perspective, strategy, actions? That will come later, for whoever takes power within the party with the prospect of taking it in the institutions.
Admit that, in this context, if the party still exists after all these bleedings, it is almost a miracle!
So, renovating will be a long march that the young members will have to undertake without being manipulated by the elders whose responsibility in this state of affairs is direct and undeniable.
What, then, will around 500 young people (a third of them from the Azure region) come to do on the shores of the Mediterranean?
Prepare the future with a spirit of reconstruction and gathering? Take advantage of this event to showcase themselves for a potential future political career?
The presence of numerous local and national personalities who have announced their attendance suggests an atmosphere of parade with interviews, declarations, group photos, autograph signings, in short, the usual menu, whereas reflection and debate should have occupied all the energy and minds of those present.
But let’s be optimistic… the young people are here to make us dream!
The concluding word goes to Marine Brenier: “No one can deny the difficulties our movement has faced in recent years. Once this has been acknowledged, we had the choice between letting the strong right-wing party die or trying to breathe new life into it. Because we are convinced that the youth of our family is the key to tomorrow’s reconstruction.”
