In politics as in life, what is conceived well is clearly stated. On this subject, it is difficult to define exactly the costume endorsed by Eric Zemmour, at the dawn of the year 2023. He is definitely no longer the journalist from Le Figaro that he was for two decades. He is no longer a star polemicist of the reactionary right either, even if he sometimes finds the time of an interview the reflexes of a role that he loved so much. But can we speak of a politician? The creation of a party (Reconquest!), a presidential campaign (7% of the vote and 2.5 million voters), a failure in the legislative elections of June 2022 (not a single deputy): the famous change so much proclaimed could have end like this. “Eric Zemmour will never be a politician. He likes France, but he doesn’t like the French”, said Philippe de Villiers after the presidential election to a relative. Within Reconquête, several senior officials share this analysis, even if they only confess it to a closed microphone: Eric Zemmour is not, and probably never will be, a politician. Too direct, too intellectual, say some with restraint. Too divisive, too proud, say the others with regret. So what about his place in the party? Within Reconquête, many executives hope for a withdrawal from their president, modestly called “overhanging position”, so as not to offend his susceptibility. It is a question of avoiding a war of clans, a year and a half before the European elections of 2024.
>> To read the previous episode of our political series, click here.
A triple challenge: financial, media and political
But a year without an election is not a year without challenges. The first objective is financial: it is a question of succeeding in keeping half of the members of the past year (131,000 claimed), who allow Reconquête! to present itself as the first militant party in the country, and above all to its executives to maintain their lifestyle. Within the executive office, only Nicolas Bay still has a mandate as a European parliamentarian. The others – Sarah Knafo, Stanislas Rigault, Marion Maréchal, Guillaume Peltier – are all paid by the movement. For several weeks, everything that counts in the file of sympathizers and members of the movement has been subjected to a real digital hype. Daily messages with assumed lyricism – example: “You will keep your light on in the middle of the night lies about immigration, about insecurity, about energy, about the vast waste of taxes” – offer “patron” packages ”, “benefactors”, “support”, ranging from 10 to 300 euros per year.
The second issue is media: how to avoid a disappearance of the radars when one is absent from the National Assembly? Marine Le Pen’s score in the legislative elections – and the election of 89 deputies on the benches of the Palais Bourbon – has made the new far-right party outdated, reversing the trend after a presidential campaign in which it embodied nationalist renewal. To maintain visibility, the executives of Reconquête rely on agitprop and militant mobilization, such as through the “vigilant parents” network or demonstrations against the establishment of accommodation centers for migrants. At the risk of embracing a group vocation… “The fundamental question is: do we go into politics to have the greatest number of members or the maximum number of voters?” asks a local executive, who notes that within the Reconquête! federations, “compatible LR” voters are fleeing, in favor of radical identity activists.
The third issue, finally, consists in deciding the question of the future head of the list in the European elections. Will Eric Zemmour listen to the ideologue Patrick Buisson, who advises him to present himself as the head of the list? Or will he give up his post to Marion Maréchal, to settle for an honorary last place, far from the spotlight? When he joined the party in March 2022, Eric Zemmour and Sarah Knafo had presented Jean-Marie Le Pen’s granddaughter with the position as acquired… Before being much less categorical once the presidential election was over. In private, the latter sometimes proves to be critical of the strategy of its president: too inclined to rehash the causes of his defeat in the presidential election, not political enough… In this context, the release in March of Eric’s next book Zemmour – in which the latter continues to blame him for his failure in the war in Ukraine – does not enthuse him.
“The question is whether Eric will remain operational”
“Today, you have to know who is the most bankable, who has the greatest electoral capacity and who is symbolically the most likely to bring in the maximum number of votes…”, admits Marc-Etienne Lansade. Mayor Reconquête de Cogolin is one of the few to speak publicly on this subject: “The question everyone is asking is whether Eric will remain operational or whether he will take on a more intellectual dimension. , letting others go to political battle.” A withdrawal to the taste of pre-retirement: the words to say it come easily, you just have to state them clearly.