Sometimes it’s better to let your phone ring. Talk to the National Rally MEPs about it. On April 3, several of them received a call from Jordan Bardella. Good luck for some, who learned that they were among those selected on the far-right party’s list for the European elections. A hard blow for others, who were told that they had to think about new horizons. We heard a few outbursts in the corridors of the European Parliament following this wave of phone calls.
It must be said that, for several weeks, the atmosphere has been electric in Brussels where, due to lack of information, one new rumor chases the other daily. The latest: Jean-Lin Lacapelle, MEP, historic frontist and member of Jordan Bardella’s inner circle, was allegedly landed in mid-flight. He who was nevertheless responsible for the tour of the federations during the campaign, and certain of retaining his place on the list. “Poor guy…”, we comment laconically in the delegation, hoping that this new sacrifice will save his own skin, before continuing: “You know, it smells like a scorch for Eric Minardi…”
Some have already passed the regret phase. Informed quite early that the European adventure was over for them, they began the mourning process weeks ago. This is the case of Gilles Lebreton, Dominique Bilde, Annika Bruna and Aurélia Beigneux, who were kindly made to understand that it was time to give way. In two words: “Understand us… We are no longer in 2019, the party has entered another dimension and eligible places are more in demand.” Others are still waiting and a few, like Thierry Mariani, are shocked when they receive a message from a journalist: “You are not being reappointed, how do you react?” Since the start of the campaign, total opacity has reigned over the composition of the list, including among those first interested. “It’s simple, we don’t know anything,” summarizes a resident of the European Parliament. “No one knows anything, so everyone is building up pressure with stress. people are not stepping stones. By dint of considering them as such, it will create wounds.”
Elected officials therefore adopt different behaviors: there are those who try to obtain information through all means, those who redouble their efforts to get their hands dirty in the campaign, and those who try to be forgotten. For the moment, almost no strategy is paying off, and apart from the president of the delegation Jean-Paul Garraud, who obtained assurance of his renewal, and the rallies made public, those of the former president of Frontex Fabrice Leggeri , the essayist and former supporter of François Fillon Malika Sorel, the party lawyer Alexandre Varaut, from Catholic circles, and the former spokesperson for the commissioners’ union Matthieu Vallet (who should join the list under little), almost no information filters.
Lockdown as a strategy
To the delight of the party’s general staff, who have been theorizing this lockdown of the campaign for months, including internally. Around Jordan Bardella, the team was reduced to the strict minimum to avoid leaks to the press and the inconvenience caused by possible disgruntled people. Campaign office meetings are held in Paris. Around forty people have access to it, but only operational decisions are discussed, the release of a leaflet or the date of the next meeting. Strategic questions about the line or the composition of the list are decided behind closed doors. “Including the future strategy of our group, laments an elected official. If in the next mandate the conservatives have as decisive a role as they say, what will we do? Will we be in direct opposition , or in a desire for co-construction, as the RN is doing in the Assembly?”
MEPs are also left in the dark about their future allies. Since Marine Le Pen distanced herself from the AFD, following a meeting of party executives with representatives of the neo-Nazi movement to discuss a policy of “remigration”, relations between the two parties have remained tense, and their future collaboration called into question. MP Thibaut François, appointed by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella as “European coordinator”, is working with the latter to lead negotiations with possible European partners. So much the worse for the discontented.
“It’s true, we started from the principle that the campaign would be long, with rallying announcements until mid-April, so that information had to be restricted, but MEPs have always been asked for travel or proposals”, defends the campaign director, also deputy for Moselle, Alexandre Loubet. Newcomers, too, are asked to comply with the party’s rules. On one point in particular: their relationship with the press. When she is asked for a physical meeting, Malika Sorel therefore redirects to Victor Chabert, in charge of press relations. “He’s the one who manages my schedule,” assures the latter. Others are advised not to meet this or that journalist. “Be careful, she will distort your words, she is a political adversary,” Alexandre Varaut was warned, regarding a journalist responsible for monitoring RN. Overall, the press, with the exception of the television sets that Jordan Bardella likes, is not popular in this campaign, and attempts at lockdowns are piling up.
Unwanted journalists
At the slightest publication whose tone is displeasing, we threaten: “It’s over, you will no longer have any information from us.” The not-so-select club of undesirables grows a little every day. Recently, Bardella’s teams found an excellent pretext to put an end to the “off”, this time of informal exchange between journalists and politicians. At the end of February, asked about his possible participation in the March 14 debate on Public Senate, Jordan Bardella indulged in irony in front of around twenty journalists: “And why not Coquelicot TV!” The anecdote is relayed by La Tribune Sunday, which enrages the communications team, who decides to no longer engage in the exercise. “And you will say thank you to your colleague!”, repeats the staff to the journalists who demand time to exchange with the head of the RN list. Internal justification: “The off is a journalistic exercise, it doesn’t bring back a voter and doesn’t bring us anything, apart from trouble.”
And to the extent that Jordan Bardella, for the moment, is walking on water, credited with nearly 30% of voting intentions for the June 9 elections, we estimate that he can afford the luxury of avoiding awkward questions like debates that don’t interest him. It is also Fabrice Leggeri who replaces him, on April 10, in the debate organized by RFI. “Look at the polls, the dynamics do not invite us to fundamentally modify our campaign strategy, Jordan Bardella is making broadcasts and that is more than enough,” brags an executive.
To the exercises that could put this well-oiled campaign in difficulty, we therefore prefer those where the candidate can unfold his language elements with complete serenity, such as during his meetings with company bosses, where he was able to repeat word for word the same speech in front of two different audiences. Which did not go unnoticed internally. “Yes, our campaign is quite mediocre, but it is validated by the polls, regrets an executive. Basically, it is perfectly empty, we do not talk about real European issues, so we do not propose anything, we do not campaign on nothing, and our entire argument rests on the sole person of Jordan Bardella.” The entire list should be revealed on May 1, but without any other significant support. Until then, MEPs will still keep an ear to their phones, no doubt rehashing the frontist slogan which is also addressed to them: “can’t wait for June 9”.
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