A few months before the presidential election, Christian Estrosi and his associates (mayors and elected officials) of La France Audacieuse, which he co-founded in 2017, gathered his followers at the Albert I Gardens. This traditional political and convivial moment allows activists, elected officials, and mayors of this association to meet and exchange ideas.
It was an opportunity for Christian Estrosi to speak on political current events and provide some insight into the direction of this Macron-compatible movement.
The reference of these elected officials to the imminent entry into the arena of Edouard Philippe—who confirmed the creation of a new political party in a video message—will be to form, under his leadership, the main framework of the parliamentary majority during the legislative elections following the presidential election? One might predict this outcome, even though Christian Estrosi has remained cautious on this subject: “I will speak when the time comes.” But since the former Prime Minister has already pledged his support to Emmanuel Macron, the outcome is already decided… isn’t it?
It is also a way to indirectly respond to the political comeback of Eric Ciotti, the daring presidential candidate with Les Républicains, who expressed his support for Eric Zemmour if…
“I am saddened for my former political family which has chosen the path of exclusion and is shrinking,” expressed the co-founder of La France Audacieuse during his one-man show (the other co-founder, the Mayor of Toulouse Jean-Luc Moudenc, intervened via video conference), referring to the 23,000 participants in last Sunday’s vote by which Les Républicains chose the method for selecting their presidential candidate. “They have chosen to liquidate the party,” he asserted.
More than 3,000 people, associated in one way or another, with the association of Amis du Maire were present in the Albert I Gardens to enjoy the still-summery weather and attend this political comeback in the presence of numerous mayors from all corners of the country, either physically or remotely connected, and local parliamentarians (Marine Brenier, Alexandra Valette-Ardissone, Patricia Delmas, Lus Dombreval).
After four years of existence, La France Audacieuse, without expanding broadly, has managed to create a nucleus of mayors and elected officials who form a network and opinion.
One can find mayors from metropolitan cities (Nice, Toulouse) and medium-sized cities (Reims, Angers, Caen, Versailles, Beauvais, Saint-Germain en Laye, Vesoul, Fontainebleau). Messages of sympathy came from the President of the PACA Region and others who, while claiming a Gaullist-Chiraquian-Sarkozian legacy with a center or liberal sensibility, no longer recognize themselves in the very right-wing political line of their former party.
They all found in the “territory” the common denominator that anchors their function: keys to the field, sense of realities, pragmatism are the words that often recur in their speeches and contrast with “Parisian” centralization and “ministerial” bureaucratization.
Christian Estrosi synthesized this in his vibrant plea during his speech, calling for a reform of public policies under the banner of “territories first” with a transfer and sharing of responsibilities from the State.
In conclusion, Christian Estrosi announced that “in the coming weeks we will structure ourselves to offer a political space that is not afraid of its shadow, of debate, of the confrontation of ideas!”
What is politically important is the reminder that “the initiative of Edouard Philippe will complement the work of La France Audacieuse undertaken for the past 4 years.”
The audacious ones have found their captain for the future…after 2022, there will indeed be…2027!
“Audentes fortuna iuvat,” wrote Virgil in the Aeneid (X, 284).
