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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.