"Mourad Boudjellal? A minor detail in the history of Renaissance Var," says his young successor Maxime Robert.

Is there a politician to save Renaissance Var? After the defection of former RCT president Mourad Boudjellal and the recent resignation of former En Marche MP Fabien Matras , only one candidate has accepted the mission: Maxime Robert, a business student.

At just 24 years old, this former head of the Youth with Macron 83 chaired his first departmental office meeting last Saturday.

"It hasn't been easy these past few weeks, but I've seen smiles reappear. People are now working towards the same goal," assures this Beaussetan, who has already restructured the presidential party in several constituencies, notably by entrusting the 4th to his potential opponent Gilles Joannet.

"For that, I slept on the Var map and made an incalculable number of calls ," he jokes.

This ambitious young man had been thinking about becoming president of Renaissance Var "for several months," but did not expect an internal election before the summer of 2026.

Gone are his holiday plans and his desire for his thirty-seventh trip abroad, he will spend the next few weeks on the road meeting activists: "Rather than staying in front of my computer, I prefer to go out into the field."

He sees his youth as "an asset to bring a new dynamic, while drawing on the experience of his elders."

His personal touch? "It's not enough to put up posters and distribute leaflets; we must be able to propose ideas. We did it for the Europe Commission, and we'll do it with Yannick Chenevard on the subject of defense. Renaissance Var must become a laboratory again."

Hit on by the Republicans?

What does he think of his predecessors? For Maxime Robert, while Fabien Matras, who has taken a step back, has shown "great courage in taking full responsibility ," "there has been a lack of action."

As for Mourad Boudjellal, he saw him as "a character capable of moving mountains ", except that "in reality, that 's not it".

"He will be remembered as a detail in the party's history ," adds the new president of Renaissance Var. This "trust given but not returned" has redoubled his "desire to get involved." While refusing an offer from the Republicans.

As the municipal elections approach, Maxime Robert intends to reach an agreement with the leaders of LR, UDI and Horizons to counter "the danger of the National Rally", "especially in Toulon" with the very probable candidacy of MP Laure Lavalette .

" When I saw that the RN had 49.7% of the votes in the European elections in my country, it hurt me ," says the man who decided to join a right-wing and centre-right list in Beausset led by Philippe Marco, an LR opponent, " to develop participatory democracy ."

And regardless of the criticisms of former MP Valérie Gomez-Bassac, her former Macronist mentor close to the current mayor Édouard Friedler.

Congratulations from Gabriel Attal

The politicians who inspire her today? Sereine Mauborgne, the last of the early days of En Marche, for "her political strength," "her perspective," and "her advice." Or Renaud Muselier, "steadfast in his ways," "extremely attached to his homeland."

At the national level, the mention of Gabriel Attal, who sent him a message of congratulations, thrills him: "We identify with him. I plan to invite him to the Var region. It would be a dream come true for the activists. It's important to bring in personalities, as we did with Yaël Braun-Pivet and Élisabeth Borne." And he questions the organization: "We still need to know how to communicate about it."

He got into politics at a very young age. " At the age of 6, I was already commentating on the second round of the presidential election between Sarkozy and Royal," says the man who saw himself as a PE teacher in the navy. " And from the fourth grade onwards, I was always elected as a delegate. I was involved in real campaigns and my speeches were highly anticipated ."

At home, the debates with his left-wing parents are lively. " The discussions with my mother, a French teacher, were particularly good training: it was like having a municipal opponent in front of me ," emphasizes Maxime Robert.

In 2017, once Emmanuel Macron was elected President of the Republic, he opened the doors of a public Renaissance meeting for the first time.

" I was curious to see how people from the Socialist Party and former UMP members could get along, when they had still been enemies the day before ," he says. That evening, he spoke on the microphone but hid the truth from his father, a sailor: " I told him I was going to a friend's house. For fear he would stop me from going. The political world can be scary. "

Debates and downs

Three years later, Maxime Robert burned his wings, as a running mate of the Le Beausset en marche list, which came third.

" Things went badly with our top candidate (Dr. Claude Alimi, Editor's note )," he confided. "He assured me that politics was a world of sharks and that he would take care of me. He even tried to trap me with recordings without my knowledge ."

While studying in Lyon for a double degree (History and Political Science), he told himself that " politics in the Var is over ." Or almost. The following year, he returned, first getting involved in the departmental elections and then the 2022 legislative elections.

What's next in 10 or 20 years? A term as a member of parliament, a ministerial portfolio? " I'm in politics for my values, not for a position," interrupts this football and F1 fan. "Otherwise, we'll deviate from his ideas ."

In any case, Maxime Robert, who inherited 200 members with up-to-date subscriptions and a file of 6,300 names, does not believe in the death of Macronism after 2027.

" The ideas will always be there ," he predicts. " The values ​​too ."