The episode brought joy to the senators of Les Républicains (LR). On October 14, Bruno Retailleau, its president for ten years, received them in Place Beauvau. The atmosphere relaxes when the Minister of the Interior addresses Mathieu Darnaud. “I pass the word on to the President of the Senate.”launches the former senator from Vendée, who immediately corrects: “President of our group, of course. » In the public we hear ” Soon “ EITHER ” Not yet “. The slip reinforces the idea, quite widespread in the Luxembourg Palace, that the elected representative of Ardèche (since 2014) would be the designated heir apparent of the immovable Gérard Larcher. “We have a great president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and I am happy to work with him”evacuate the interested party.
But prudence does not prohibit ambition. At 49 years old, Mathieu Darnaud has been in charge since 1Ahem October the first group in the Senate (130 members out of 348 in total). To recover Bruno Retailleau’s office, this father of three children forced his destiny. At the end of September, Nicolas Sarkozy’s former Secretary of State, Roger Karoutchi, was the first to announce his candidacy to take the helm of the LR senators. His offer of service arouses discontent among right-wing senators in the face of elections that are perceived as inevitable. Mathieu Darnaud seizes the opportunity. “He understood that it was time for him and the matter was closed quickly”explains a collaborator. In the LR group, elected officials consider that Karoutchi, senator for Hauts-de-Seine, pays for his age (73 years), but also for his excessively solitary nature. The complete opposite of Mathieu Darnaud, affable and unifying. Upon withdrawing his candidacy, Roger Karoutchi denounced the arrival of a “aggressive youth”in a message sent to other colleagues.
A false argument, according to Darnaud, which questions the idea according to which his election would be a question “of age or generation.” “I also received support from people chosen long before me”underlines. “Being less than 50 years old in the Senate is not being a “baby” either, we must stay away from these caricaturesassures the LR senator of the Maritime Alps Alexandra Borchio Fontimp. Mathieu Darnaud has been elected Senator for ten years and knows the Chamber very well. Yes, he is ambitious but because he is competent and unifying. » The same words are repeated in the mouths of his colleagues: ” friendly “, “unifier”, “consensual”. “You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who would say bad things about him., warns the LR senator of La Mancha Philippe Bas. He is very attentive to others, which is a human quality but also a political one. »
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