The Republicans go on the offensive against Eric Zemmour. While the far-right polemicist continues media appearances and maintains the vagueness on a possible presidential candidacy, several officials Les Républicains (LR) raise their voice and intend to erect ” a dike “ against him.
It is in this sense that the leader of LR deputies, Damien Abad, proposed, Wednesday, September 29, to Mr. Zemmour for a debate. “I hear here and there that Eric Zemmour would have convictions in common with the Republican right. I invite him to confront it by debating together ”, said the elected representative of Ain. “If Eric Zemmour dreams of a populist tsunami, The Republicans will be an impassable dam. France has nothing to do with Pétainism or the extreme right “, he said in a statement, estimating that “The French have the right to an informed debate to understand what differentiates the republican right from Eric Zemmour”. This proposal comes the day after the release a Harris Interactive survey* for Challenges which grants 13% to 14% of votes to the far-right essayist, neck and neck with the right-wing candidates tested – whether Xavier Bertrand or Valérie Pécresse – and only a few lengths from Marine Le Pen, credited with 16%.
“I do not share any of the ideas and, between quotes, the values that Eric Zemmour offers”, for his part assured the President LR of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, Wednesday morning on Europe 1. As “Fundamental differences”, Mr. Larcher cited the statements of Mr. Zemmour on the Vichy regime which “Protected the French Jews”, on his ” positioning “ on women in politics (“I have the impression of hearing Radio-Kabul”, he criticized) or on the “Confusion between Islam and Islamism”. According to him, “Eric Zemmour is the candidate of the extreme right, the one who refuses to live the difference, to live the diversity in the values of the Republic”.
“Useful for public debate”
“I do not accept the strategy of Eric Zemmour, who comes from the classic right but who agrees to ally with the extreme right”, for its part criticized Valérie Pécresse, candidate for the nomination of the right for 2022. Eric Zemmour proposes to merge the rights, that is to say in fact to break this tight wall between the extreme right and the right, that is not my values, it is not my policy. “
These outings against the polemicist come after that, much criticized on the right, of the boss of the Republicans, Christian Jacob, who replied during an interview on BFM on Sunday that ” no “ the polemicist was neither racist nor extreme right. He also said “Rather well get along” with him, ” to share “ with him the idea that “Marine Le Pen is too discredited to be able to win the presidential election”, and repeated to consider that it is “Useful for public debate”. “He draws up an observation that many French people share”, for his part estimated the deputy Eric Ciotti, also very criticized for having said that he would vote Eric Zemmour in the event of a second round against Emmanuel Macron. But Mr. Jacob however ruled out the hypothesis of a participation of Eric Zemmour in the future primary of the right because he “Has nothing to do within the framework of our selection”.
The former CNews columnist also unleashes his punches in recent days against The Republicans. “I want to talk to the orphans of the RPR”, he proclaimed on Sunday, calling LR a “Party of notable centrists” who has “Betrayed General de Gaulle”. And the next day, the columnist assured him on LCI: “Some of the high dignitaries” LR is “Closer to me than to Valérie Pécresse. If they make partisan logic dominate, they will join Xavier Bertrand. If they make the logics of ideas dominate, anything is possible ”.
* Survey conducted online from September 24 to 27, 2021. Sample of 1,379 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, including 1,048 people registered on the electoral rolls.
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