The divorce is finalized. This Tuesday, October 28, Gabriel Attal’s party formalized its support for Pierre-Yves Bournazel, executive of Édouard Philippe’s Horizons party, for the Paris municipal elections, to the detriment of Rachida Dati’s candidacy.
“It doesn’t change my life, it doesn’t change my campaign (…) I have never forced anyone to campaign with me,” reacted the Minister of Culture, interviewed by LCI on the streets of the capital this Wednesday.
“We approach everyone (…). Do you want to win Paris or not? Do you want to change Paris or not? That is the only slogan,” says Rachida Dati.
“I didn’t understand why Emmanuel Macron appointed him prime minister”
Not long ago, everything suggested that the party, whose general secretary is Gabriel Attal, would support the mayor of district 7. By supporting the candidate, Renaissance intends to exert greater weight against Rachida Dati.
Asked about the change of direction of Gabriel Attal’s party, Rachida Dati did not hold back her criticism of the former Prime Minister. “He himself said that he did not understand the decisions of the President of the Republic. Maybe I agree with him on one thing: I did not understand why Emmanuel Macron had appointed him prime minister for behaving like that today. That’s all I have to tell him,” addressed the mayor of the 7th district.
“Gabriel Attal owes everything to Emmanuel Macron,” said Rachida Dati.
“He will have to explain to Parisians why at a given moment he allies himself with someone who calls for the resignation of the President of the Republic,” he declared, referring to Édouard Philippe, head of Pierre-Yves Bournazel’s party.
On several occasions, the former prime minister was in favor of an early departure of Emmanuel Macron. Invited to the “World in Progress” forum in Barcelona, Spain, this Tuesday, October 21, Édouard Philippe reiterated his call, considering that there is “no other credible solution” to the political crisis.
This Wednesday, Rachida Dati also stressed that in 2020 “the division led us to defeat. We all know, each and every one, what it cost the Parisians.” That year, in addition to Rachida Dati for LR, Cédric Villani and Agnès Buzyn also presented a presidential bloc list. The latter then remained in the second round.
A divided macro snow
The Minister of Culture was an obvious candidate for some of the Macronists since she entered the government in 2024. Renaissance’s choice to support Pierre-Yves Bournazel is not unanimous and even divides within the Macronist party. Some, such as deputy Sylvain Maillard and minister Benjamín Haddad, present at her side this Wednesday, continue to support her.
Sylvain Maillard announced on Tuesday that he is “retiring” from the presidency of the capital’s Renaissance federation, adding to Le Parisien that he intends to “play a role, to be at the center of the campaign” of the Minister of Culture.
41 Parisian executives and elected officials of the Renaissance, including David Amiel, Olivia Grégoire and Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, on the contrary, justify, in a column in L’Opinion, their support for Pierre-Yves Bournazel, denouncing in particular the “all against all” of the Paris Councils, where Rachida Dati leads the opposition to Anne Hidalgo.
Source: BFM TV
