The far-right French party, the Rassemblement national (RN), officially entered the campaign on Sunday 13 January. At a meeting in Paris, they unveiled the first 12 candidates on their list, led by Jordan Bardella (see EUROPE 12166), for the European elections on 26 May. Its main issue? Defeat President Emmanuel Macron in the election which the party sees as a “replica of the 2017 presidential election”.
Confirmed by the polls, which show the RN winning, as well as the crisis of “yellow vests” which could be favourable to her, Marine Le Pen openly attacked the man she nicknamed “the tenant barricaded at the Elysée” or whom she described as “a president disturbing in his attitudes, alarming in his behaviour, incompetent in his functions”.
In turn, Jordan Bardella declared“On the evening of Sunday, 26 May, I want Castaner to have tears in his eyes when the results of the polling stations at the Ministry of Interior arrive [...] I want Griveaux to search for words on television programs to minimize the beating [...] I want Macron, but also Juncker and Merkel to understand that it is over and that the people are back! “
The party therefore aims to make the European elections a referendum on the president's policy. “For voters, the challenge will be clear: defeat Macron”, said Marine Le Pen. Moreover, for her, this election is an opportunity to “take Macron on both fronts: in France and Europe”.
In that respect, she reiterated her plan to “move quietly from the European Union to the European Alliance of Nations, according to a sequenced timetable, which will see the reconquest of the sovereignty of our borders, of our legislative, budgetary and, finally, monetary ” (see EUROPE 12136).
To embody this "great political shift", the RN has chosen Nicolas Sarkozy's former minister, Thierry Mariani, essayist Hervé Juvin, magistrate Jean-Paul Garraud and several outgoing MEPs such as Dominique Bilde, Nicolas Bay and Gilles Lebreton. Also on the list is the former parliamentary assistant of Marine Le Pen, Catherine Griset, suspected of having held a fictitious job in the European Parliament. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)