Hard-right MP Ciotti chosen to lead French conservative party
A HARDLINE anti-immigration politician who one called for a Guantanamostyle camp for terror suspects in France has been chosen as the leader of the Right-wing Republicans party.
Eric Ciotti, the party’s “security” adviser, said his number one job was to “bring back 90 per cent of those who left” the party by rallying around a “firm” Right-wing doctrine.
The once-mighty group, which has produced presidents from Jacques Chirac to Nicolas Sarkozy, is reeling from a string of electoral defeats.
Many of the party’s grassroots supporters have defected either to president Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance group, Marine Le Pen’s Right-wing National Rally party or Eric Zemmour’s far-right Reconquête.
The Macron camp responded by saying that Mr Ciotti’s election would effectively “dissolve the Right into the far-right”.
While the Republicans lost many seats in the National Assembly this year its 62 MPS play a key role in France’s hung parliament.
Mr Ciotti won 53.7 per cent of the vote in the leadership race and his rival attracted 46.3 per cent.
An MP from Nice, Mr Ciotti is best known for his hardline views on immigration and French identity.
During a bid to become the Republicans’ presidential candidate for this year’s spring election, he vowed to defend “Judeo-christian” France against an “invasion” of migrants.
The 57-year-old also proposed a “French Guantanamo” Bay for Islamic extremists. He has ruled out a formal alliance with Mr Macron’s minority government in parliament and it remains to be seen whether he will order MPS to block legislation.
Mr Macron is still hoping Republicans MPS will help pass his pension reforms when a bill is presented to parliament early next year.
The shake-up would see the retirement age raised from 62 to 65 for most people. Unions are already threatening major strike action over the move.
Mr Ciotti has made it clear he will not support the reforms “without conditions”.
France’s Green party, Europe Ecologie-les Verts, picked Marine Tondelier as its new leader over the weekend.
Given the uncertainty, Mr Macron said yesterday that his government would push back the presentation of its pension reform plans until January, allowing all parties to have “some more weeks” to discuss “key elements” of the proposed bill.