France's conservatives will not form a coalition with President Emmanuel Macron's centrist bloc in the upcoming snap elections, the head of The Republicans, Eric Ciotti, said on Sunday evening.
"There is no question of entering into a coalition with this force that has damaged France so much," Ciotti said, arguing that Macron's policies represent ever more taxes, immigration and insecurity.
"True to our values, we will run this campaign around the values of the right," he added
Ever since Macron's alliance missed out on an absolute majority in the last parliamentary elections two years ago, there have been repeated efforts to form a coalition or a firm collaboration with The Republicans.
Nicolas Sarkozy, under whom the conservatives last held the presidency from 2007 to 2012, had also pushed for this, ultimately to no avail. Macron has included several conservative politicians in his government team.