Valérie Pécresse, the Republicans' 2022 presidential candidate, firmly opposes any union with the National Rally in an op-ed published on December 14. She urges her party not to sell out and to refocus on its values to revive France. This stance comes as some within the Republicans consider such an alliance.
Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France region and the Republicans' (LR) candidate in the 2022 presidential election where she garnered 4.78% of the first-round votes, firmly rejects any alliance with the National Rally (RN). In an op-ed published on December 14 in La Tribune Dimanche, she states: “After a decade of aimless drifting, France needs a course and a compass, not a weather vane that would lead it to shipwreck.”
She criticizes both the RN and La France Insoumise (LFI), calling them “two sides of the same dead end.” For her, LFI means “a divided and ruined France,” while the RN hides under “the clothes of the savior” an economic program modeled on the far left, constant flip-flops on Europe, and a troubling fascination with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
Pécresse warns party members tempted by a union with the far right: “Alllying with the RN means erasing oneself. It means becoming its auxiliaries, its stamp of respectability.” She emphasizes: “The right is not for sale! It does not exist to serve as a stepping stone for others.” Instead, she advocates for an alliance in the first round of the next presidential election among former UMP members, Gaullists, centrists, Horizons affiliates, and disillusioned Macron supporters.
This position reflects internal debates within the Republicans, particularly following the release of Nicolas Sarkozy's book The Journal of a Prisoner, which calls for the broadest possible gathering without exclusions. Meanwhile, Xavier Bertrand, LR president of the Hauts-de-France region, reaffirms his opposition to the extremes: “Neither LFI nor National Rally.”