Thank you to the South-West and the Basque Country !

On behalf of the UMP list, let me thank all the voters of the South-West who trusted us to stand up for our region, our country and our ideas in the European Parliament. Through this site, its forum, the local media and as many direct contacts as possible, we will work together, as a team, to get to know one another better and make our voice heard in European decision-making centres.

I want to express my more personal thanks to the Basque Country. The list I led obtained nine points more there than in the constituency as a whole. The right is ahead of the left there and the UMP gets 50% more votes than the UDF. In comparison with the regional elections, the reversal of the trend is beyond dispute. The UMP is making progress in every ward; the right is regaining a majority in the BAB (Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz) conurbation and, in particular, regaining the advantage in Anglet – 5312 votes (UMP + UDF + de Villiers list + Pasqua list) against 5234 (Socialist Party + Greens + Communist Party + far left) – including the northern ward (2480 votes against 2377) where the outgoing socialist had just been re-elected.

The results are also very favourable compared with those of 1999. In Bayonne and Anglet, the UMP list has doubled the scores obtained at the time by the list headed by one Nicolas Sarkozy, while the pro-sovereignty lists have totally collapsed since that date.

I see these results as due, in part at least, to recognition of the work accomplished in the Basque Country over nearly 20 years. What better incentive to continue along the same lines and to set ourselves the aim of convincing the rest of the South-West as well?

Alain Lamassoure, 15 June 2004