In his tour of French cities to present his candidacy for the UMP presidency election scheduled for November 18, former Prime Minister of Nicolas Sarkozy’s government stopped in Nice, the stronghold of one of his most important supporters, Christian Estrosi, mayor of the city and president of the Metropolis (a last-minute supporter and possible secret candidate for the same position for a few weeks), but especially a key campaign aide, the deputy and president of the General Council Eric Ciotti.
The militants’ troops having been positioned and well-managed, and the sympathizers having come in large numbers, the room was packed with over 2,500 attendees, even more than on May 4, when the same François Fillon closed the election campaign of candidate Sarkozy.
This time it was on his own behalf that the former Prime Minister addressed an audience already convinced of his cause: all UMP deputies and senators present, except for Michèle Tabarot, deputy and mayor of Le Cannet, declared their support for his party presidency candidacy.
This allowed the one Nicolas Sarkozy described as “his collaborator” to sharpen his claws and spread his wings for a flight towards victory in this internal UMP competition, which will have a much broader and significant impact: the position of opposition leader and, especially, that of the probable future candidate of the right and center for the 2017 presidential election.
Preceded by Eric Ciotti, Jean Leonetti (former minister and deputy mayor of Antibes), and the always verbose Christian Estrosi, who warmed up the audience with all-out indictments against the ruling socialists (how convenient is it to be in opposition to critique others!), François Fillon presented his national recovery project for the party, expressing his views in a deceptively moderate tone: in reality, he did not miss the chance to criticize the decisions and measures taken by the President of the Republic and his government to date.
But, as is well known, politics is the art of the possible, and sometimes the impossible, here is François Fillon taking on the role of accuser of a political and parliamentary majority elected a few months ago instead of another, of which he was a central part, and which had been in place for 10 years.
In this curious twist of reversed responsibility, François Fillon nonetheless sketched out the first draft of “his” UMP: a political movement that aims to be strongly unitary, open to internal democracy (primaries for each occasion and even referendums among members for the most important topics), focused on three “pacts” with citizens from the right, center, and moderate left: Productive, European, and National, each having a flexible content and application depending on the situation and circumstances.
To conclude, François Fillon announced the team that will assist him in case of election and will ensure the governance of a party seeking a relaunch for the 2014 municipal elections: Laurent Wauquiez will be his Vice President, Valérie Pécresse will be the Secretary-General and the party’s second in command (thanks to gender parity requirements), and Eric Ciotti his deputy.
Surprise or not… The official announcement made before a mostly local audience was not heard without interest: Eric Ciotti becomes a member of the “inner circle” of the likely future party leader and, as mentioned earlier, the opposition within which he embraces a national career.
His early involvement with François Fillon, when bets predicted the outgoing Secretary General Jean-François Copé as the winner, earned him merits that François Fillon wants to reward handsomely.
What to say then… Eric Ciotti will have a position superior to his former mentor in the party hierarchy. Michèle Tabarot, she, is promised the role of the UMP’s Secretary-General in case of Jean-François Copé’s success but will obviously be sidelined otherwise… Indeed, the national election will leave deep marks in the balance of power in Federation 06, where local governance is handled.
And Christian Estrosi in all this? Confined to a role of “delegate to the reconquest of territories” (a sort of electoral campaign representative), the Mayor of Nice must be wondering if his former right-hand man has “killed the father,” as explained by the Oedipus complex…
But it is well-known that in politics, parricides are carried out by denying reality, sometimes with a smile. Fillon, Ciotti, former collaborators have learned the trade well and as ambitions abound…
