François Bayrou, Bruno Retailleau: two Catholics, two styles

What they have in common is being Catholic and benefiting from strong local roots: in Béarn for François Bayrou, who chose to remain mayor of Pau while being Prime Minister; in Vendée for the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, who has long grown up in the shadow of Philippe de Villiers. This is where the common points apparently end. Because in the political incarnation of their Catholicism, everything seems to oppose them. On the one hand, the Béarnais repeats its attachment to secularism and refuses any ostentatious manifestation of religious affiliation, like the leaven of the Gospel parable which, although hidden, allows the dough to rise. On the other hand, the Vendéen unashamedly approaches his traditional convictions and, while being pragmatic, carries his ideal like a banner in the political field.

There is nothing illogical about the two men expressing their common faith in different ways. They are the heirs of two distinct political traditions: Christian democracy for François Bayrou, eager, according to political scientist Philippe Portier, director of studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, “to associate power with the social doctrine of ‘Church while seeking, and this is specific to the current of the center, to reconcile the opposites’; a more conservative Catholicism for Bruno Retailleau, heir in part to the “legitimist right” opposed to the ideals of the French Revolution as the historian René Rémond described it in his book The rights in France (1954), of which the Vendée remains marked even today.

On social issues, the centrist and the conservative each take a position in their own way. While in 2013, Bruno Retailleau demonstrated in the street against marriage for all, François Bayrou cautiously defended “the heritage” that “the word marriage” represents for “millions of French people” but did not join the processions. The two men now claim that the Taubira law of 2013 must apply and cannot be called into question. If both opposed the inclusion of the right to abortion in the Constitution, Bruno Retailleau concretely led this fight in the Senate, joined by several LR parliamentarians while the vast majority of MoDem deputies, the party of François Bayrou, followed their colleagues from Renaissance to vote on the bill.

Respect, esteem and reliability

Another divergence, and not the least important: the Minister of the Interior remains marked by his Villiériste past which makes him prefer “a Europe of nations”, while the Prime Minister remains attached to European construction of federalist inspiration.

Irreconcilable positions? Simple difference in traditions and styles? François Bayrou plays the conciliator. During a recent interview*, he declared about the host of Place Beauvau: “We are less distant than people say. He is someone I respect, esteem and believe to be reliable. » “On immigration, François Bayrou is not on the right,” assures Jean-Louis Bourlanges, former MoDem deputy, who has known him for more than thirty-five years. It is closer to the Catholic community of Sant’Egidio and the line of Italian Christian democracy of openness. He has never had the slightest anti-immigrant or xenophobic inflection. In my opinion, the Prime Minister should be able to agree with his Minister of the Interior if the latter does not make the subject an anti-immigrant flag while pursuing a firm policy. »

The province at the heart

Both are also animated by the same attachment to the province and to what Jean-Louis Bourlanges calls “the primary communities: municipalities, schools, regions, agricultural or industrial companies. A way of seeing society that is not very urban, ultimately.” They are both opposed to the bill on the end of life, François Bayrou refusing to see “a public service which causes death” established. Finally, despite nuances, they both find themselves on a liberal economic line.

Their political values ​​place them a priori on two very distinct planets, but the strategy could bring them together in two ways. “From the point of view of public opinion, François Bayrou can hardly do anything other than respond to the security aspirations of the French. From a political point of view, the attempt to open up to the left was a failure and to stay in power, the center has little choice but to ally itself with a republican right, thus reproducing the pattern which always existed under the Fifth Republic,” concludes Philippe Portier. If circumstances permit and Parliament lends them life, the horse breeder and the former rider from the Puy du Fou park could well agree on a few joint races.

* On BFM TV, December 23.