The president of the Républicains, Éric Ciotti, said on Tuesday that he ‘would like’ an alliance between his party and the Rassemblement National for the legislative elections, a proposal that met with strong opposition from many influential members of his party

This Tuesday 11 June, on TF1, Éric Ciotti expressed his desire to see his party conclude an agreement with the Rassemblement National for the legislative elections.

‘We need an alliance while remaining ourselves’, said Éric Ciotti, referring to a collaboration with the far-right party. ‘I want my political family to take this direction’ and ‘it is also the wish of the majority of our voters’, he added.

Éric Ciotti criticised his party’s current weakness and denounced ‘the Macronist bloc which has plunged the country into a situation of greater violence and insecurity’, as well as the ‘Melenchonist danger’. He therefore advocated the formation of a ‘bloc of the right, a national bloc’.

He also sketched out the outlines of a possible agreement: the RN would not field candidates against those of the LR and an LR group would remain in the National Assembly. According to Éric Ciotti, this agreement would depend in particular on a programmatic consensus between the two parties.

Éric Ciotti disowned by leading figures in the Republicans

A number of leading figures from the Républicains party, including Laurent Wauquiez, Valérie Pécresse and Michel Barnier, have strongly rejected the proposal by their party president.

The president of the LR deputies in the National Assembly, Olivier Marleix, called on Éric Ciotti to resign. Ciotti said there was ‘absolutely no question’ of him stepping down.

Guilhem Carayon, president of the Young Republicans, said he was in favour of the LR/RN alliance, describing it as a ‘courageous and common-sense choice’, ‘approved by millions of French people’.

The Rassemblement National calls on the Republicans to join them

These reactions followed an article in Le Figaro suggesting that Éric Ciotti was considering an alliance with the RN. An article in Paris Match also mentioned ongoing negotiations.

On Tuesday, Jordan Bardella announced that the RN ‘will support’ candidates ‘from’ the Républicains. Marine Le Pen, for her part, said on Monday that she was prepared not to field candidates against Republican candidates in order to ‘promote unity’.