On Wednesday, December 1st, the mayor of Nice announced that he was joining the party of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.
As the first day of voting by Republican members took place today to choose their presidential candidate, Christian Estrosi—a former member of the Republicans—announced his alignment with Horizons, Edouard Philippe’s party.
“By joining Edouard Philippe today within Horizons, I am aligning myself with the only political organization that can legitimately claim the heritage of the RPR and the UMP,” declared the mayor of Nice during the large public meeting held this Wednesday morning at the Palais de la Méditerranée.
He took the opportunity to reiterate the reasons for his departure from the Republican party last May, criticizing the party and its “drifts,” even questioning why Eric Zemmour did not “participate in this primary given the strong similarities between their speeches.” He continued by adding that “now nothing distinguishes them. They have the same words, the same ideas.”
He also explained that his alignment with the party of the former Prime Minister and current mayor of Le Havre is due to their “shared values.”
Support for Macron
“Out of coherence and loyalty,” Christian Estrosi then announced that his group of local elected officials “La France audacieuse” would join the common house Ensemble Citoyens. Born on Monday, November 29th, it unites the supporters of Emmanuel Macron for the 2022 presidential election.
Edouard Philippe, who initially expressed being “pleased” by Estrosi’s alignment with his party, went on to also show his support for Emmanuel Macron in the 2022 presidential election. “Among all those claiming candidacy for the election, the President of the Republic is today the one who seems to have the best blend, the best combination of intuition, boldness, situational intelligence, and strength of character.”
He took the opportunity to talk about his party, which he claims to have created because he “believes in political action,” before adding with irony that “France lacks many things but is not at risk of a shortage of political formations.”
