The evening’s noteworthy news, echoed by all media, is the announcement of a law regarding minimum service. Addressing a crowd of supporters, he declared: “The deputies whom you will elect in a few days will vote in July for a framework law on minimum service, particularly in transportation.” He revisited most themes from the presidential campaign: national identity, minimum sentences for repeat offenders, sentencing of guilty minors, security, university, equal opportunities, and gender parity. He returned to the theme of work, reminding everyone of the goal of full employment within five years and speeding up the release of overtime hours: “We will free up overtime hours. By autumn, all those who want to work more will be able to. It’s a cultural revolution! The value of work is returning to France.” He wants to fulfill the commitments of the mandate granted to him by the French people: “I will be its guarantor. The French can no longer tolerate renunciations, capitulations to a unique thought that has only managed to increase the injustices and inequalities it claimed to combat. We are moving forward. We will not falter along the way. No one will make us give up on the project you have so overwhelmingly endorsed.”
He did not forget, and rightly so, to criticize the Socialist Party’s reaction to governmental appointments: “The left swears by poaching. It lashes out at its own former friends. It treats as pariahs those it praised just a few weeks ago. Last month, the Socialist Party proposed to govern with a center, and today it insults all those who have had the courage to join us.” A comment likely appreciated by Rudy Salles, present at the podium, a former Bayrou supporter now a candidate for the presidential majority in the 2nd district of Alpes-Maritimes. François Fillon continued, mocking: “What was a good idea yesterday when it came from the left is now maneuvering and heresy when it comes from the right.” He also did not forget to criticize Jacques Chirac to further distance himself from the previous five-year term: “The left, to win the legislative elections, expected us to carry on as before and repeat the same tactics. It expected an old, tense, and dramatic right. It discovers a modern and confident right capable of uniting all French people regardless of their political leanings […] There’s no longer a President who only speaks on July 14 and December 31, and a Prime Minister who governs every day. There is now a leader who, together with his Prime Minister, commits to and assumes the direction of the country.” These words will undoubtedly not please the unions who will equate Nicolas Sarkozy’s France to a large corporation.
François Fillon relies on symbols to emphasize the newness: frequent joggings and the appointment of Rachida Dati. He also joked with Christian Estrosi about their shared passion for motor racing — cars for the Prime Minister and motorcycles for the President of the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes: “With Nicolas Sarkozy, Christian Estrosi and I must relearn to drive. Nicolas tells me to campaign hard and to accelerate in the second round.” The race for votes is thus launched. At the Théâtre de Verdure in Nice, there was a great confidence among the militants, the candidates, and François Fillon. A legitimate confidence, as the presidential election results confirmed that the Alpes-Maritimes was UMP territory. Eric Ciotti (1st district), Muriel Marland-Militello (2nd), Rudy Salles (3rd), Jean-Claude Guibal (4th), Christian Estrosi (5th), Lionnel Luca (6th), Jean Léonetti (7th), Bernard Brochand (8th), and Michèle Tabarot (9th) remain to ride the Nicolas Sarkozy wave.
