We were good predictors: The Alternative was confirmed by its co-founders but has not yet been fully accepted by all executives and activists. At least, this is what’s happening in the Alpes-Maritimes, where the merger, at least for now, seems to be facing difficulties.
The reason? Candidacies and alliances for the 2014 municipal elections. The MoDem does not seem prepared to join the UDI in the role of vassal to the local UMP but, with which voices will it ensure its autonomy?
For Rudy Salles, head of the Azur UDI: “The rapprochement between the UDI of Jean-Louis Borloo, of which I am a founding member, and the MoDem of François Bayrou was made with clarity. Indeed, the charter signed in Paris on November 5 stipulates that this alliance, titled ‘The Alternative,’ is clearly positioned in opposition and that its partners are within the republican right.
I am therefore very surprised by the attitude of the MoDem 06 which, through its local leader, indicates, via the press, a number of orientations and positions contrary to the spirit and letter of the said charter. For example, it states that for the upcoming municipal elections, alliances with the left can be considered. It refuses to endorse the alliance that the UDI makes in Nice with Christian Estrosi, as it condemns the position of Gilles Cima, who was appointed head of the list in Cannes by the National Executive Committee of the UDI.
Faced with this situation, I am requesting clarifications from the national bodies. If we share the ambition to rebuild a large political family of the center in our country, we can only do so with clarity. The attitude of the MoDem 06, which consists of forming variable alliances and criticizing the UDI and its allies from the UMP, seems to me incompatible with the agreements signed by Jean-Louis Borloo and François Bayrou.
In the absence of clarification on these attitudes of the local MoDem, we will continue to work at the national level on the reconstruction of the center, but we will refuse to do so with local representatives out of step with the officially taken orientations.
The UDI will, however, warmly welcome the voters and activists of the MoDem who follow the political line decided by François Bayrou and whose alliances with the UDI and the republican right are now confirmed.
I remind you that this political line was unanimously approved by the Departmental Council of the UDI, which met on Wednesday, November 6, in Antibes.”
