Season 14, episode 12. Did you miss the latest twists and turns at Reconquête, Eric Zemmour’s party? Sit down, we’ll summarize for you. As in all good B series, we first talk about revenge. And Marion Maréchal held it almost in the palm of her hand. After a European campaign spent being mistreated by her own camp, the former frontist saved her head, and that of four of her comrades, by exceeding 5% of the votes and winning her place in the European Parliament. Nobody believed it, though.
Reinvigorated, she launches phase 1 of her revenge. On Sunday evening, facing the camera, in front of an extremely grimacing Eric Zemmour, and clearly unaware, she claims to want to discuss with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella to set up a right-wing and far-right coalition in the perspective of the legislative elections which will be held on June 30.
No time to waste. Monday morning, still without informing her Reconquest comrades, Marion Maréchal arrived, all smiles, at the headquarters of the National Rally to conduct negotiations. In several months, she had never been seen so radiant as after this exchange with the representatives of her former party.
Wedding rings and backpedaling
Jordan Bardella, the first, leaves the room and salutes, in front of the press, the constructive attitude of Marion Maréchal, ensuring that other discussions should take place. The MEP steps forward a little further. “There is a choice available to me,” she declares, still smiling broadly. “That of finding the means to integrate the ideas of Reconquest into this gathering, or to be content to let Reconquest go alone to these elections.” Understand: Marion Maréchal has just carried out a putsch within the far-right micro-party and becomes the only one capable of leading this alliance, de facto excluding Eric Zemmour and Sarah Knafo – also elected to the European Parliament – from the system. Among those close to Zemmour, we are furious. “It’s absolutely lunar, what a lack of class, and then we are all in favor of the union,” chokes one executive.
The Whatsapp loop is starting to heat up. Marion Maréchal plays the watch. Eric Zemmour is annoyed. “Marion, I asked you the conditions twice, I regret that we are wasting time given the urgency of finding an agreement.” We’re organizing a meeting. We sharpen the knives. The Zemmourists do not intend to be ousted so easily. Wait ! The RN finally recalled Marion Maréchal. Timeout. More after the break.
Because ultimately, among the frontists, we discussed. We even thought about it. Marion Maréchal is family, it’s true. But what need is there to be burdened with those around you who are considered sulphurous, such as Damien Rieu, or Philippe Vardon, who we were happy to get rid of in 2022? The return of identitarians, while the RN finally attracts the favors of the right? Bad idea, warns the Lepenist entourage. What is the need, moreover, to have to accept the divisive declarations of Eric Zemmour even though Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella are trying to bring them together?
“She was completely manipulated, what a circus”
“And then it’s as usual, complains a frontist. No questioning, they insulted us for weeks, and now it’s our fault if they are not in agreement.” The adventures do not erase the resentment, end of negotiations. In short: thank you, Marion, but no thank you. The MEP leaves, head bowed, and denounces a “sudden and contradictory decision with the numerous discussions”. Now his revenge falls through. Forced to return to Reconquest HQ, where she stayed for five minutes, time to inform her comrades. “She was completely manipulated, what a circus. Jordan Bardella humiliated her in front of the whole of France”, almost rejoices a Zemmourist executive.
A final attempt, for the sake of form, through the media. We therefore pull out the Eric Zemmour card, who, on the set of CNews, this Tuesday, assigns himself the role of Deus ex machina, swallows his ego, and ensures that he demands nothing, asks for neither position nor constituency, only this union of the rights for which he has been campaigning for years. The great reconciliation? No cliffhanger, this time. Jordan Bardella, on 8 p.m. on France 2, clearly retorts: “To build an alliance and a majority, you need trust, but I believe that Eric Zemmour’s positions throughout the European campaign, that the invectives that he has multiplied and that the sometimes very excessive positions that he can take have made the conditions of an agreement obsolete.”
At Reconquest, this Wednesday, we pretend to still believe it. You’ve never seen Dallas ? A character returning from limbo is not impossible. “We will succeed in finding an agreement, I feel it,” swears a Zemmourist elected official. Response from the RN side: “Usual Reconquest bullshit, absolutely no chance.” Last twist: we inform Reconquète definitively. One crime, two guilty people. According to the Zemmourists, responsibility is placed equally on Eric Zemmour and Marion Maréchal. The first, for its radicality, the second, for its unmanageable character. “We’ll say it’s Zemmour, but she messed up,” a Lepénist would have assured Reconquête. To be continued in the next episode.
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