France's right-wing Ciotti quits Les Républicains party, claiming it has dissolved into macronism

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00:00Here in France, there is never a dull day at the moment in French politics.

00:04More plot twists than Bridgerton right now, 24 hours after the announcement of a new French government,

00:09two months after inconclusive elections.

00:12We're hearing that tonight, the leader of the Conservative Party, the Republicans, Eric Ciotti, has announced he's quit.

00:19He's claimed that the party's full of Macronists.

00:22Macronism, he said, has spread within the party, saying,

00:25I've become aware it's dissolved into that, and this is not a government of cohabitation.

00:29It's a Macronist government, he said, as you can see,

00:31saying he has some hopes that Michel Barnier, the Prime Minister, will impose his mark.

00:36But so far, this government shows it's not the case.

00:39So a sideswipe comes.

00:40Remember that several Republican MPs took up positions in the Cabinet,

00:45including one of the key job of Interior Minister.

00:48The headlines yesterday were on how the government had moved more to the right as a result,

00:52despite the left-wing bloc coming out on top.

00:55So it should be noted, this man, Mr Ciotti, has previously allied part of the party with the far right,

01:00and had also survived an earlier attempt to oust him.

01:07Let's bring you some live pictures from Le Bercy at the moment, here in Paris, the home of the Finance Ministry,

01:13because at the same time, right now, or en même temps, as President Macron likes to say,

01:19there's a changing of the guard beginning of the French government,

01:22a day after the announcement of the new Cabinet.

01:24In the next few minutes, we are going to see the outgoing Minister for the Economy, Bruno Le Maire,

01:30officially saying au revoir, as he says goodbye.

01:34Up to the steps of the Finance Ministry, we'll also hear, we think, from Antoine Aumont,

01:39saying bonjour, the 33-year-old relative newcomer to the political scene,

01:43has got one heck of a job ahead of him.

01:45He's been a MP for the last two years.

01:49And given that Prime Minister Michel Barnier had said the scale of the French financial challenge

01:53is not to be underestimated, cannot be covered, he said this week, in pretty words,

01:58there was talk of tax rises, to which there were arguments,

02:02to which we don't think they're going to go ahead, but as I say,

02:05we're going to bring you that as it happens, it should be due any moment now.

02:09Let's see, in fact, if it's going on as we speak, let's record a lucky moment at Le Bercy,

02:14as we see, yep, an exchange of posts.

02:16Here's Bruno Le Maire stepping up to the mic as we speak.

02:20And next to him, on his right-hand side, we can see his successor, Antoine Aumont.

02:27So smiles at the moment for the camera.

02:32Let's see if we get a quick word.

02:43This might be quite a long press conference, but essentially what we heard him say,

03:04this is a passage of power that I'm passing on to you, Antoine,

03:08and he said, I want to say thank you and thank you to the French people.

03:13So first of all, we will see a number of changes of the posts.

03:17The rest of them will happen tomorrow.

03:19We'll bring you those as we happen.

03:20The unveiling of the new French government.

03:23Now, one person who has their ear to the ground,

03:25especially on the day that we're hearing of the resignation of Eric Ciotti,

03:28Nicolas Conquer, member of the alliance between the Republican and the National Rally,

03:33a spokesperson as well for US Republicans abroad in Europe,

03:36who, Nicolas, I think you're currently in a car somewhere in the north of France.

03:40You look safe, you're parked up.

03:42First of all, before we talk about Eric Ciotti,

03:45give me your take on the new look French government.

03:49Well, the fact of the matter is that we're seeing after the snap election,

03:53the French people expressed through the ballot box,

03:5640 million people voted for this union of the right alliance,

04:00which is clearly not represented in this new government.

04:03We're expecting what we call in France in cohabitation,

04:07meaning a prime minister from the opposition.

04:10In here, it's just a continuity of what Macron previously had.

04:13Basically, it's Macronism that has kind of overtaken this,

04:18and it's an alliance of the minority parties,

04:20which in a way is no change at all.

04:22It's just continuity.

04:24So there's no, it's a full betrayal of these French electors

04:28that have been totally disavowed in this government that has been formed,

04:32including some people from Les Républicains

04:35who are fully distancing themselves from the values,

04:39from the base of what their electors are expecting by joining the Macron.

04:44Macronism has fully, in the last grasp,

04:48managed to take over the remnants of Les Républicains.

04:52Thus, we can celebrate Eric Ciotti that's formally resigning

04:56and creating this new movement that's bringing up thousands and thousands of new members

05:00in this UDR, Union de la Droite Républicaine,

05:03which is really going to be a significant impact in the upcoming elections.

05:08So you've kind of steered the way to where I'm going next, really.

05:12So we're talking about the union of the Republican rights.

05:15This is what Eric Ciotti wanted to create within the party.

05:19Now, that's not happened.

05:19There's clearly a push against that.

05:22We're seeing the Republicans, the old vanguard of French politics,

05:25which dissolved somewhat as a party in recent years,

05:28still managed to get seats in Parliament,

05:30pretty significant ones within the cabinet despite that.

05:33So where do you stand now? It's given your rhetoric a moment ago.

05:36You suggest that you will follow in the footsteps of Eric Ciotti.

05:39Is that right? Well, most definitely myself.

05:43I ran as candidate for MPs under his banner and joining this union of joining the right

05:48in order to show that what we are majority in France,

05:51we should govern and we're just on the verge of doing so.

05:54Today, the matter is with the LR, Les Républicains, which are compromised with Macronism.

06:00It's about time that we have these top figures of LR that decide to join and follow the lead of Eric Ciotti,

06:06which will in turn bring a new movement, a new political family in the right,

06:11which is not compromised with the Macron center-left, center-right, the en même temps, as you mentioned earlier.

06:17So there's definitely a clear call that saying that Les Républicains,

06:21Macron have totally betrayed on three accounts and that now the movement is under Ciotti in order to do great impact

06:28in the upcoming elections, which, sorry to bring it up,

06:31but we're only eight months away of a potential new snap election.

06:36So it's time to take advantage and see the momentum to build up.

06:40But here's the thing. The left are saying this is a betrayal.

06:44You're saying, you know, on the right of right of center,

06:48you know, somewhere between the far right and Eric Ciotti's new party where you want to be sitting.

06:53That's also a betrayal. Macron's party and those within his alliance would say,

06:58actually, no, this is further right than we were going to go.

07:01And the argument for the likes of Michel Barnier is give us time to show that.

07:05I mean, you were talking 24 hours on. Have you, perhaps I could put it to you,

07:09have you not given them enough time to show which way the government will go?

07:15On the left, if I were to talk on their part,

07:17is that they just couldn't agree on what was going to be their kind of their platform

07:21and design designating who should be the prime minister.

07:25What we see now currently with this Barnier government and this new macronism,

07:29the new new format is that they just managed to make a union of minority parties,

07:34which in turn don't reflect how we're supposed to manage our institutions under a fifth Republic in France.

07:40And the top leading political party in France being RN wouldn't have a single member of its cabinet.

07:47That's clearly bad optics and it's clearly preparing the upcoming successes which are just ahead of us.

07:54What's your prediction, Nicolas, on what this is going to do to the old vanguards,

07:58the Republicans, how it's going to splinter perhaps next?

08:01Where do you see these two, the new party of Ciotti going

08:04and what's going to happen to the the rump of the Republicans?

08:08So regarding the Republicans, we're clearly a turning point.

08:11If it hadn't appeared previously now, they definitely know that they're going to be fully absorbed with the macronism.

08:16They're not going to have a proper existence per se.

08:19So now is a clear call to action for them to join to mobilize forces and to prepare the upcoming elections.

08:24So I can definitely picture them joining this new and shaping this new political party as it's bringing up

08:30and it's not aligned on the national rally per se.

08:33We're building a coalition in order to win the upcoming elections.

08:37But there's definitely a structure in place and at least they know where the members are.

08:43The party was created a month ago.

08:44We're topping around 50,000 members, which really shows the dynamics of momentum

08:49and where things are going to be happening is within Ciotti's party, the UDR.

08:52So stay tuned.

08:54So that's very interesting, Nicolas.

08:56Where do you draw the line with the national rally on the far right?

09:00You're clearly not wanting to join that party.

09:02You stay with Eric Ciotti.

09:03So where do they go too far to the right for you?

09:08It's not that a matter of right or where the threshold should be.

09:11It's about how do we achieve our ideas and that we're in command of the country.

09:17So it's definitely bringing different political forces in order to federate these different electorates

09:22that maybe have different susceptibilities.

09:25Maybe thus a national rally is very right-leaning on some economic policies or more left-leaning.

09:33So it's all about bringing this and uniting the right.

09:35And definitely from what I've seen in the U.S.,

09:38I'm definitely trying to replicate and work as an art of bringing these electorates together.

09:45So no matter what party it is, as long as we achieve a majority, that's clearly the end goal.

09:51Nicolas, just a brief question just about you and the febrile atmosphere of French politics.

09:56You know, you stood in Cherbourg. You didn't get the seat.

09:59You were attacked as well.

10:00Just tell me about your dealings with the public, how you are now and what happened to you in previous weeks.

10:09So, yeah, of course, I was on the campaign trail and I was mobbed by people

10:13that didn't have clearly political positions, affiliations, but it's clearly politically targeted.

10:19There was some very complacent authorities with this political violence,

10:24which from my side, I would denounce no matter from which side it would be coming.

10:27So I really want to make things clear that there is no place in a democracy,

10:32a so-called democracy, for political violence and it should be called out by all means.

10:36And thus, we show that we're ready to defend our ideas, to stand up and to keep it being on the campaign trail.

10:44We won't be silenced nor surrender to any of the threat or intimidations.

10:49We'll be back on the campaign trail whenever it is. And we're there for our district.

10:54So following this lead, it's clearly going to show our electors,

10:58but also potential top electors to join the movement and show that we're not going to let them down or surrender to this intimidation.

11:12Nicolas, thank you for talking to me. Safe journey to wherever you're heading to this evening.

11:16Nicolas Conquer from the Alliance of the Republicans and National Rally or what remains of Republicans.

11:22Nicolas saying he will join whatever party Eric Ciotti is now setting up.

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