In an exclusive interview with Le Figaro, Laurent Wauquiez, leader of LR deputies, expresses his persistent ambition despite the party's internal crises. He believes there is no natural right-wing candidate for the presidential election and pledges to do everything to pull France out of its decadence. This comes as divisions deepen between Wauquiez and Bruno Retailleau over the budget and the union of the right.
Laurent Wauquiez, elected deputy in Haute-Loire after Emmanuel Macron's surprise dissolution, lost the Republicans (LR) presidency to Bruno Retailleau a year ago. Now leader of the Droite républicaine (DR) deputies, he waited in the shadow of an interior minister in the spotlight. 'He comes from afar,' whispers a deputy, noting he had to 'eat his black bread' and 'wait his hour'.
In this exclusive Le Figaro interview dated October 22, 2025, Wauquiez appears in great form and ironizes: 'We live in a wonderful time, don't we?'. He distrusts 'meteors in politics' and draws lessons from the crisis shaking his movement. Believing there is no 'natural candidate' on the right for the presidential election – an idea theorized by Nicolas Sarkozy in September as requiring a primary –, Wauquiez pledges to 'do everything' to pull the country out of 'its decadence'.
These statements occur amid growing divisions within LR. Bruno Retailleau, party president and former interior minister, left the Lecornu I government to protest its composition. In a Figaro interview, he deems the 2026 budget project 'unvotable by the right,' calling it concessions to 'socialist delusions' and a 'mix of laxity and renunciations.' He is glad to have provoked an 'immediate break' and rules out 'no debate, including censure.' Retailleau sees a return to the polls as inevitable, via dissolution, resignation, or referendum, but refuses to demand Macron's resignation.
Moreover, analyses highlight the return of the debate on the union of the right. Marine Le Pen thought it buried in 2022, but it resurfaces, as shown by the October 15 Valeurs actuelles cover featuring right and far-right figures. Retailleau believes in a union through voters, not apparatuses, while editorials like Le Monde's warn of the danger of rapprochement with the RN, risking to widen the Overton window and make LR voters prefer the original over the copy.