“I learned to question myself”: Laurent Wauquiez breaks the silence and makes his mea culpa

And if he was the champion of the right for 2027? After several months away from the political scene, Laurent Wauquiez has made a comeback in an interview at Le Point. “I chose to take a step back, this is not only valid for pensions, but more broadly because I think that we have to put everything back on track”, explains the ex-boss of LR.

“In this collapsing political universe, we have a duty to offer something else. However, I did not parade on the pensions, ”adds the potential LR candidate for the next presidential election, who claims to have “clearly given (his) position”. The president of the Aura region had indicated during his vows at the end of January that the reform was “not the one” he would have made, while invoking a “principle of responsibility” consisting of “not opposing”.

And to start this return, what better than a little mea culpa? “Yes, I have scars. I learned what the loneliness of failure is… I learned the importance of listening and humility. It is fundamental when you want to take care of the destiny of a country”, recognizes the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, which half-wordly reveals its national ambition. He also admits to being “left to be damaged, dragged down by mediocre politics, by political confrontation and the play of sound bites…”

Macron “did not stop the decadence”

The former president of LR, who left office after the rout of the right in the 2019 Europeans (8.5% of the vote) ures him: “I learned to question myself, and that made me does a lot of good.”

To make a successful comeback, a right that has crumbled as the debates around the pension reform, Laurent Wauquiez instead targeted voters who had left to join the presidential camp. Acknowledging that Emmanuel Macron had “succeeded in things”, the former Minister of Higher Education indicates that the president “has not stopped the decadence”.

Wishing to be “fair” on France’s foreign policy, Laurent Wauquiez believes that Emmanuel Macron has “succeeded in embodying France internationally”. “He gave impetus at European level, he carried an ambition, ideas. He did not put us to shame, unlike, at times, his predecessor. But the weight of France continued to weaken,” he recalls.