Philippe Olivier had warned the press. For this May 1, 2023, Marine Le Pen would deliver “a high-end speech, a presidential speech”. On the part of the adviser to the former candidate for the Elysée, at the task of writing his speeches, we did not expect other elements of language. On stage, in front of the 1,500 activists, employees, executives and elected officials seated for a banquet in the hall of the square of the docks of Le Havre, Marine Le Pen gave a speech of thirty-five minutes. We find in the text the major themes dear to MEP Philippe Olivier. Fight against progressive “ideology” “woke”, fight against “migratory submersion” organized by the European Union, and frontal attacks against Emmanuel Macron.
“Rarely has a president been so disconnected, so lonely, so beleaguered, but still so arrogant. Rarely has a government been so ghostly, vaporous and transparent”, launched Marine Le Pen under boos. For the occasion, the former presidential candidate, usually very static, was testing a new device, which was precisely reminiscent of those prized by the President of the Republic. A speech given standing in the middle of his supporters, in motion, thanks to many teleprompters arranged all around the stage. An attempt at modernity that contrasts with the usual tributes to Joan of Arc, a traditional stage of the Lepenist May Day celebrations, dear to Jean-Marie Le Pen. The Maid of Orleans will only have the right, this year, to a discreet wreath laying in Rouen, on the way back to Paris.
No place for work and pensions, or very little
Of work, Marine Le Pen will have finally spoken very little. Only four occurrences in his text where the word worker does not appear, and a single reminder of the pension reform, as if the fight had already closed, while hundreds of thousands of French people marched at the same time in the streets of cities of France to request its withdrawal. It doesn’t matter that the secretary general of the CFDT Laurent Berger repeated the same morning: “Marine Le Pen will never be the friend of the workers”. “The RN is already the workers’ party, and for a long time, Laurent Berger has just had to look at the election results and the reality in the face”, breathed Marine Le Pen, aside, in the morning. The organization of this party in the working-class town of Le Havre, under the nose and bare beard of Edouard Philippe, was also thought of as a way of reaffirming this status.
The objective of this May 1st was twofold. First, to continue to exist in the debate. Not so simple for a party which has understood that silence bears sound results, and which hopes to reap the consequences of social anger, while remaining in overhang. “I don’t have too much difficulty existing myself, nor the RN”, sweeps Marine Le Pen. However, a few months from the European elections, party executives know it: the result of the May 2024 election will largely depend on the party’s ability to mobilize its troops. It is therefore important not to release the pressure on the Renaissance majority (“They are like rabbits in the headlights of a car, they are lost”, Sébastien Chenu), or on the Head of State (“We are talking about ‘a guy who thinks he’s still president’, Philippe Olivier). But also to pose as a force of proposal, able to seize new subjects, such as ecology, a theme discussed longer than usual by the deputy of Pas-de-Calais. An intervention which is mainly against: “against energy decline” (therefore for nuclear power), “against industrial decline” (and therefore for thermal cars), and “against agricultural decline” (a little earlier , Marine Le Pen affirmed with certainty that there were “no intensive breedings in France”).
“I am a candidate until I decide not to be”
Finally, this RN congress was also and above all an opportunity for Marine Le Pen to recall that she was still, despite her title of president of the RN group in the National Assembly, the one and only head of this political family. Ended, the hesitations on a fourth candidacy for the presidential election. Pulling on her electronic cigarette, during an informal exchange with the press, she launches with authority: “You have to understand one thing: I am a candidate [NDLR : à l’élection présidentielle de 2027] as long as I haven’t decided not to be, do you understand?” At his side, Jordan Bardella did not say a word. He was asked about the titular president of the National Rally: “Why are you you a better candidate than him?” Annoyed look from Marine Le Pen: “Nanananère.” Then “I am the best placed, because I have done three presidential elections”. Do not talk to him about retirement at 54.