Former French PM Dominique de Villepin launches new party
"I decided to create a movement of ideas, of citizens, through the creation of a political party," said de Villepin in an interview with the daily newspaper Le Parisien, published on Tuesday. "This movement is for everyone. We need to unite all French people to defend social justice and the republican order," he added.
De Villepin, 71, was the prime minister of France under ex-president Jacques Chirac between 2005 and 2007, and also the late leader's foreign minister between 2002 and 2004. The traditional right-wing politician made his mark on the world stage as Chirac's foreign minister, delivering an impassioned speech against the Iraq War at a UN Security Council meeting in 2003.
A platform for a presidential election bid
De Villepin – who once also served as the interior minister under Chirac – did not explicitly make his intention to run for president clear, but the new party is likely to be seen as a key platform for such a bid. De Villepin, who polls have shown to be one of France's most popular politicians, declined to explicitly say that he would run for the presidency, saying "now is not the time to enter into the presidential debate."
"I am not for escalation (...) but for a politics of balance and measure," he said. However, he added: "Faced with the path of tension and polarisation of identities, I propose that of unity, of the general interest, and of humanism."
"French people deserve to have the choice" and not be caught "between the radicalism of the LFI [La France Insoumise, radical left] and that of the RN," the far-right Rassemblement National party, he told Le Parisien.
An unclear field of candidates
The line-up for the French 2027 presidential election is still largely unclear, with center-right former prime minister Edouard Philippe being the only major player to have clearly stated that he will run, and President Emmanuel Macron barred from seeking another term in office.
Far-right RN leader Marine Le Pen is eager to run for a fourth time, but her embezzlement conviction earlier this year, in a fake jobs scandal, has led to her being banned from running for public office. She has appealed, and waiting in the wings is her protégé, Jordan Bardella, 29, who could run as the RN's candidate if Le Pen's ban from running for office were upheld on appeal.
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