"A friendly atmosphere": Retailleau wants to "redefine the software" of LR and assures that Wauquiez "will have his place"

36 hours after his landslide victory over Laurent Wauquiez , it's time to get to work. The new leader of the Republicans, Bruno Retailleau, held his first strategic committee meeting this Tuesday morning, May 20.

"One of the very first projects is to redefine our software to speak to the France of today, not the France of yesterday, to speak to the France of honest people," explained the Minister of the Interior at the end of this meeting.

As for the future of Laurent Wauquiez, who was largely defeated this Sunday evening , "he will have his place" in the future organization of the movement, promised Bruno Retailleau. The tenant of Place Beauvau will have the opportunity to tell him in person later in the morning by going before the LR deputies .

Clearly keen to maintain the movement's unity, the LR president spoke of a "friendly atmosphere" during this strategic committee meeting. And too bad if his former rival wasn't present, nor were Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region, or David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes.

Officially, scheduling reasons prevented these right-wing figures, all of whom have a potential presidential bid in mind, from attending the strategic committee. But Bruno Retailleau has not been slow to dwell on the matter, having announced the appointment of former Prime Minister Michel Barnier as head of the movement's National Council.

"This morning we discussed the substance and the lessons that must be learned" from the activists' vote last weekend, the Interior Minister explained, setting his sights on the municipal elections next March.

"We must work to redraw the future of the right" by consulting "much more closely with activists and drawing on all our talents," Bruno Retailleau insisted. The program already looks complicated, but the former leader of the LR senators believes in it.

"We must organize ourselves in the coming weeks to ensure that these cities are not left in the hands of an archaic left," the sixty-year-old summed up.

Although the tenant of Place Beauvau has promised that there will be no alliance at the national level with other parties, seeking to deflate the trial of "dilution of Macronism" launched by Laurent Wauquiez , the general staff have already largely started to discuss.

In Marseille, the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, Renaud Muselier (Renaissance), has already announced his support for Martine Vassal , a long-time LR representative. In Paris, an alliance between Macron's party and Rachida Dati, who has reclaimed her seat on the right, is very likely.