A reconciliation lunch. Tuesday February 20, a stone’s throw from the Arc de Triomphe, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella had lunch, in complete discretion, at the table of Alice Weidel, the co-president of the AFD, a German far-right party with a European ally. of the National Rally within the ID group (Identity and democracy). Party which made headlines, in November, for having participated in a meeting with neo-Nazis near Potsdam where a project of “remigration”, that is to say the mass deportation of 2 million foreign people, was mentioned. or “non-assimilated citizens”. The revelation of this meeting by the media Correction had provoked large-scale demonstrations in Germany.
In the European Parliament, however, we had defused. The president of the RN delegation, Jean-Paul Garraud, had called a meeting: be careful, he warned, the article in the German press was truncated, its content was misleading, and the AfD had nothing to reproach itself for! A point of view that Marine Le Pen clearly did not share. Questioned on this subject on January 25 alongside her wishes to the press, the latter was quick to distance herself from her European allies: “I completely disagree with the proposal that would have been discussed or would have been decided in the framework of this meeting”, she assured. And added: “We will be required to discuss the differences, and see if these differences have or do not have consequences on the ability that we have to ally ourselves in the same group.”
Fury among MEPs who still fear AfD resentment. “It was managed from Paris by people who know nothing about European affairs and don’t realize the consequences, complains a frontist. If we play stupid and behave like unbearable people, we could find ourselves without a group in three months.” Currently, the AfD holds 9 seats within the ID group, compared to 18 for the RN, and the two far-right groups could count on a doubling of their elected representatives during the June election. The remigration project partly fomented by the AfD is therefore largely put into perspective. Within the group, we complain of too Parisian management of European issues, and of a lack of consultation. “We have no idea how this line was chosen, and that’s the whole problem, three quarters of the decisions are made in Paris while Garraud watches the flies go by.”
Condemn without repudiating, distance yourself while having lunch
However, no voice was truly raised internally. “Criticizing Marine Le Pen? It was Joan of Arc who spoke, mocks a frontist. The crime of lèse-majesté is still somewhat possible on Jordan (Editor’s note: Bardella) but on Marine impossible.” Some point the finger at relatives of the Pas-de-Calais MP, notably Thibaut François (former secretary general of the Frontist group in the European Parliament) or Jean-Philippe Tanguy, accused of wanting to sabotage the group’s relations with the AfD. “If there are people who carry this remigration plan in their hearts, let them take a position,” retorts the latter. All those who spoke at the campaign office were in the position of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella .” As for Thibault François, today party advisor on European affairs, he is the one who organized the lunch bringing together Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella and the co-president of the AfD Alice Weidel, this Tuesday, on which the RN was careful not to communicate.
“Marine Le Pen had specified that she would ask for explanations from the AfD, it was not a secret lunch, defuses Thibaut François, but the opportunity to discuss all these subjects.” The “remigration” plan and its presence within the AfD program were therefore discussed, and the lunch ended with an agreement: Alice Weidel will send written explanations to Marine Le Pen. This will be sent to the Executive Bureau which will decide on the relevance of continuing, or not, to sit with the AfD in the European Parliament. Courageous but not reckless, we specify to the RN that no decision should be taken before June 9, ensuring that it is “obviously” not a reconciliation, you think! Condemn without repudiating, distance yourself while having lunch. By spending too much time with the president, would Marine Le Pen have let herself be tempted by the practicality of “at the same time”?
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