Invited Wednesday evening by LCI, the president of the RN distanced himself from the proposal of his UDR counterpart addressed to the boss of LR, in favor of a “reversal of alliance to the right” for the benefit of the nationalist bloc.
The path towards the “union of the rights” remains strewn with pitfalls. Following the proposal made by the president of the UDR, Éric Ciotti, of a “overthrow of alliance on the right” for the benefit of the nationalist bloc to his successor at the head of the Republicans, Bruno Retailleau – in the wake of his shattering departure from the government – his ally of the RN, Jordan Bardellamakes it known that he is not on the same wavelength. Although the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes reiterated his call this Wednesday in an interview given to Figaro.
As his interview illustrated this October 15 on LCI, the nationalist MEP appears inflexible. The dolphin of Marine Le Pen may well assert “register a certain number of values that(il) defends in a right-wing ecosystem”he refuses, for the moment, to reach out to the former Minister of the Interior. At issue according to him: the lack of clarity of Bruno Retailleau vis-à-vis the motions of censure tabled against the “Lecornu 2” government, particularly after the Prime Minister’s general policy speech, marked by the promise to suspend pension reform. “The LR are preparing to deny their own convictions in view of what they have defended until now», said Jordan Bardella, expressing hiscompassion» for LR voters considering themselves “betrayed».
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“How can we be serious when for years, pension reform has been a red line”he continued, seeing there a lack of “credibility» and a sufficient reason, added to his criticisms of LR’s so-called laxity in matters of migration, not to ally with the right. “Why is it that today, as we speak, this alliance is not possible with the current president of the Republicans? Because Mr. Retailleau was Emmanuel Macron‘s Minister of the Interior, there have never been so many foreigners in France. pinned Jordan Bardella, pointing out the “400,000 foreigners entering in 2024, an absolute record”during his visit to Place Beauvau.
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An agreement that is all the less possible, at this stage, as the Vendéen, regrets Jordan Bardella, “had the opportunity on several occasions to leave the government and to do so on political issues” – whether, according to him, it concerns the Algerian question or the questioning of State Medical Aid (AME). “Why is he leaving? Because LR did not have enough positions in the government, because the deal was not suitable, and because Mr. Mayor returned to the government (to the Armed Forces, Editor’s note)»denounced the boss of the RN. And the thirty-year-old goes on a mocking register: Bruno Retailleau didn’t feel “disturbed, for a year, to sit in the Council of Ministers, next to Elisabeth Borne, socialist, and Messrs. Valls or Rebsamen, socialists.” “It’s all a fool’s game,” he snaps.
The Bardella-Ciotti alliance highlighted
If a political, or even electoral, alliance between all the rights seems impossible today, is it definitively excluded in the future? Especially since 52% of French people say they are in favor of such a union to form a government, according to a recent Ifop survey carried out for Current values. “I fight, every day that God makes, to put in place the political conditions for the arrival of our ideas to power”, retorts Jordan Bardella. Which recalls having already taken a step towards the right, by building in 2024 a nationalist coalition with Éric Ciotti, then boss of LR, in the wake of the dissolution – under the cries of horror of the immense majority of LR executives – but also in “inviting” party MEPs to vote on the impeachment motion against the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen. An outstretched hand that François-Xavier Bellamy grabbed, he greets.
Before driving the point home against the LR troops in the National Assembly: “How do you expect me to open my lists for elections, to open a government agreement with people who are incapable of censoring a macrono-socialist government”he snaps, lambasting the “political suicide” of Laurent Wauquiezguilty of preferring institutional stability to loyalty to one’s convictions.
No question of “working with Pécresse or Jeanbrun”
The only hypothesis that would lead Jordan Bardella to change his position towards the Republicans: that of a parliamentary configuration bringing him closer to power, following a possible dissolution. “If I have an absolute majority, I will immediately go to Matignon. If I have a relative majority, I would suggest to potential allies – I know that there are sincere patriots at LR, and on the left – with those who want to work together. he promises. But he immediately sets his red lines: no question, he says, of “work with Madame Pécresse or Monsieur Jeanbrun (the new Minister of Cities and Housing)»which he judges “completely macronized”.
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A position which, despite some similarities, differs from that of Marine Le Pen: on France Inter this Wednesday, the leader of the RN deputies said she was less favorable to “the union of rights” than to the mantra of “the national union“. Defining yourself “maybe” like the “last Gaullian in French political life”the three-time presidential candidate prefers to believe in a political alliance based on “national interest”without worrying “where do patriots come from”. “They can come from the right, they can come from the left”but also… «centre».
