Jordan Bardella Prime Minister of France? The scenario is no longer so far-fetched after the announcement of new early legislative elections. But what policy will the leader of the National Rally lead in Matignon?
After triumphant European elections, the victory of the National Rally in the early legislative elections, announced by surprise by Emmanuel Macron, for June 30 and July 7, 2024, is no longer a science fiction scenario. The RN appears in a position of strength, for a national election this time, which will take place just four weeks after its overwhelming victory at the polls, with 31% of the votes for Jordan Bardella’s list.
President of the National Rally since 2021, when Marine Le Pen decided to devote herself to her mandate as a deputy (and to her presidential quest), Jordan Bardella could therefore become Prime Minister as early as July, a few weeks before the Paris Olympic Games . The government being responsible to Parliament, it must in fact correspond to the majority elected at the ballot box during the legislative elections. In the event of another defeat of the Macronist camp, cohabitation is therefore looming, since it is customary in this case for the leader of the majority party to be appointed to Matignon to form a government of his color. This is what happened after the dissolution and the legislative elections lost by Jacques Chirac in 1997, which forced him to appoint the socialist Lionel Jospin Prime Minister and to live together until 2002.
This scenario of a Bardella Prime Minister obviously raises the question of the program and the measures that he could implement once in charge. If we look back, the National Rally’s program for the 2022 legislative elections already delivers some key elements on what could make up its government action. And the RN always displays 22 key measures to reform the country in the event of coming to power.
Economy and purchasing power
Jordan Bardella’s RN promised in 2022 to implement several significant measures aimed at improving the purchasing power of the French, including the elimination of VAT on a basket of one hundred essential products, a reduction in VAT on fuel and energy from 20% to 5.5% and the reindexation of retirement pensions to inflation. He also wants to expand the existing possibilities for early departure according to the age of entry into working life and refuses any postponement of the departure age.
In addition, Jordan Bardella wants, if he becomes Prime Minister, to renationalize the highways to reduce toll rates by 15%. Particular attention would be paid to young people and families, with measures such as corporate tax exemption for people under 30 wishing to start their business, free rail transport during off-peak hours for elderly French people. from 18 to 25 years old, the introduction of a training voucher for apprentices and a zero-interest loan for young French families, transformed into a subsidy from the third child.
Security and immigration
Jordan Bardella and his party systematically or almost systematically associate questions of insecurity and immigration. The first response to delinquency and crime would therefore be, according to the National Rally, a strict policy on immigration, with measures to stop what it calls “migrant overwhelm”. The RN has several times mentioned the idea of expelling foreigners convicted of crimes or misdemeanors, of reestablishing minimum sentences and of establishing a presumption of self-defense for the police, while the question of violence police officers have been crossing society for several years now.
Job
On employment, Bardella’s program for Matignon could include a revision of the Constitution to establish “national priority” and exclude foreigners from public or private employment after a one-year period of inactivity in France. A measure which has long appeared in the successive programs of the National Front and then the National Rally, but delicate and which will nevertheless have to be made compatible with the Constitution.
Public services
In the area of public services, the RN plans to invest in public hospitals by increasing the salaries of nurses, to eliminate regional health agencies and to increase the number of places in nursing homes by 10,000 beds by to 2030. Education would also be a key sector with the 20% increase in teachers’ salaries and proposals for the construction of 100,000 student accommodations in five years. If these priorities are clearly stated, the financing questions which arise acutely for these different sectors have been very little developed by the RN.
Ecology and Climate
The RN continues to denounce “punitive ecology” in its speeches. But climate measures are often vague and few in number. Among the measures mentioned in 2022, Jordan Bardella’s party says it wants to eliminate subsidies for intermittent energy and develop hydroelectricity as well as other forms of renewable energy, while stopping new wind projects. The construction of 14 EPRs and the reopening of Fessenheim, however, appeared in its program two years ago.
Other measures
Many aspects of Jordan Bardella’s program, for the Assembly and therefore for Matignon, remain unclear, particularly with regard to the initiatives that could be taken by an RN government in economic, social and ecological matters. Other measures such as the “deconjugalization” of the disabled adult allowance (AAH), an increase to 1000 euros per month of the minimum old age, medical consultations modulated according to the place of installation of the doctor, a status for women affected of endometriosis, free contraception for all, but also the registration of “street harassers” in the sex offender file were mentioned. Looking through past programs does not allow us to state with certainty all the directions of its policy. To do this, we will have to wait for the start of the 2024 legislative campaign.