From one opponent to another. On October 1st, Laurent Wauquiez responds to Michel Barnier’s general policy declaration (DPG). He chose his enemy. The boss of the Republican Right (DR) deputies is crushing the “extreme left” in the hemicycle, accused of abandoning secularism and sowing “chaos” in the country. The National Rally is never mentioned in his speech. Marine Le Pen is spared.
This tone has evolved. Laurent Wauquiez targets the RN MP this Wednesday, December 4 before the vote on the motion of censure against the Savoyard. “You wanted to show yourself responsible, you are preparing to be irresponsible. You claimed to embody the party of order, you are going to bet on disorder,” says the former minister, judging the presidential ambitions of the group president incompatible with his “choice of instability”. The day before, the deputy already denounced in front of his troops the “destruction” undertaken by Marine Le Pen and her bad manners. To the Prime Minister, she said a slight “I have good and bad news” during a final telephone exchange.
“She is playing her own future at Russian roulette”
The right judges in unison that Marine Le Pen made a major strategic error by giving her thumbs up. “She is playing a political poker game and playing Russian roulette for the future of the country and her own future,” underlines an LR minister. “She ruined ten years of accountability,” notes Bruno Retailleau in Le Figaro.
The RN was trying to institutionalize itself? Here he is returned to his “protest” training status. Is he seeking to extend his electoral sociology to retirees, traders and craftsmen? He would have frightened these French people, concerned about parliamentary stability. This electorate, long the preserve of the right, is a land of conquest for the National Rally. Thus, Laurent Wauquiez listed on Wednesday the harmful consequences of the motion of censure on these highly disputed voters. The fall of the government would lead to “the end of emergency aid for farmers”, “the end of the emergency plan to save our retirement homes from bankruptcy”, or even economic uncertainty for all businesses such as liberal professions.
The right tracks signs of anger. In a group meeting, DR deputies spoke on Thursday of the embarrassment of frontist voters in their constituencies. The Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard privately notes the anger of the operators against the architects of the fall of Michel Barnier. And what does the letter written by Marine Le Pen to farmers to calm their concerns matter. Just like this interview given to the conservative right-wing channel Cnews, during which she justified her political act.
Ideological shift
The RN, new agent of chaos. Finally, the right is equipping itself with a new angle of attack against the far-right group, which it is struggling to combat. The Republicans have moved closer to the historic positions of the RN on immigration. This ideological shift has tainted their singularity. The right has stopped opposing a discourse of values to the heir of the FN, for fear of alienating its voters. The devil of the Republic has changed. Laurent Wauquiez now portrays La France insoumise as “the greatest political danger for our country”. He wishes to stage his ideological confrontation with LFI, in the great bipartisan tradition. “The real opposition in the country is not facing Macronism or the National Rally. It is facing a left […] determined to carry out a multicultural policy of destruction”, he theorized in December 2023 in Le Figaro.
What remains with the RN? The right is content to crush its economic project, presented as “extreme left”. This argument is repeated ad nauseam, sometimes with a touch of intellectual laziness. He ignores the developments of the RN. And above all leaves the right at the mercy of future reversals of a formation with astonishing ideological plasticity. When Éric Ciotti decides to join forces with Marine Le Pen in June 2024, Annie Genevard warns him: “We don’t agree on anything with them on the economy and social issues”. “They will evolve,” replies the Nice resident. As if the expansion of the frontist electoral base induced an alignment with the economic doctrine of the right.
“The RN is a party of people who do not work”
So, the right tracks its differences with its opponent. His skill perhaps? LR examines this rival with its weak pool of executives and insists on his supposed inability to exercise power. “The RN is a party of people who do not work,” assured MEP François-Xavier Bellamy at the start of 2024. The vote of censure by Marine Le Pen feeds this story of a protest group, far from the exercise of power. By his abilities, like his spirit of responsibility.
Will this offensive infuse public opinion? The voters of the first constituency of the Ardennes, scene of partial legislative elections, will provide a first response on Sunday. RN candidate Jordan Duflot will face Lionel Vuibert, Renaissance deputy from 2022 to 2024, in the second round. The frontist came first in the first round with 39.12% of the votes. In a group meeting, the DR deputy for the Ardennes Pierre Cordier warned his people. A defeat for the RN would be a snub for Marine Le Pen. If he wins with more than 55%, then his political blow will not have been fatal.
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