The president of the party Les Républicains (LR), Christian Jacob, asked the deputy of Ain Damien Abad to “resign” as president of the LR parliamentary group in the National Assembly, Thursday, May 19, after several weeks of ambiguity of Mr. Abad on his possible rapprochement with the presidential majority.
“I asked him this morning to get out of the ambiguity” and “he asked me for additional time to wait for the composition of the government”, explained in a press release Mr. Jacob, before assuring that his party “does not could not wait for the goodwill of Mr. Macron to take it or not to take it to the government and that he should, as of now, leave his functions as president of the group ”.
Damien Abad had informed the deputies of his camp on Tuesday that he would “clarify his situation by Friday”. “I have always taken my responsibilities and, once again, I will take them: with clarity and frankness”, he wrote Thursday, on Twitter, in response to Christian Jacob’s press release and ensuring that an article from the Figaro would be quickly published, in which he would detail his position.
If Mr. Abad “joins the majority, he says it and he assumes it”
Asked about Franceinfo, Thursday morning, Christian Jacob had explained that Mr. Abad had “been taunted in a group meeting at the beginning of the week, Monday, where the unanimity of the parliamentarians told him to clarify his position”. “He was asked to do it immediately, he asked for a forty-eight hour deadline, the forty-eight hour deadline is there, now, either he joins the majority, he says it and he assumes it; if he wishes to return to government, he goes, but let’s be clear; or else he remains effectively on the line which is ours. You can’t be ambiguous,” he said.
Aged 42, Mr. Abad is the subject of speculation about a possible entry into government, especially since his meeting between the two presidential rounds with Thierry Solère, a former member of the Republicans who has become a close adviser to the president. of the Republic. The Ensemble! group, made up of several formations close to Emmanuel Macron (La République en Marche, Horizons, the MoDem in particular) did not invest a candidate, facing him, in the 5th district of Ain.
