He is young, he wears handsome, he expresses himself with ease: the macronists have found their new idol. The little problem is that her name is Jordan Bardella, chairs the RN and will be at the top of the list in the European elections of June 2024, as he confirmed this Monday at Figaro: “There will be no other national election by 2027. So, as outgoing MEP and party leader, I will naturally lead the National Rally list.
Emmanuel Macron himself met him for the first time on Wednesday in Saint-Denis, during his discussion with party leaders. He had read with interest the public letter sent to him by the number 1 of the RN. “The president has found that the government parties have worked less than Bardella,” said someone close to the head of state.
During the twelve hours of discussion, the MEP did not hide behind his little finger. Very quickly, during the long exchange devoted to the international situation, and more particularly to the conflict triggered by Russia, he intervened to express his surprise at the differences between the positions expressed by Emmanuel Macron on Ukraine and those of the president of Renew Europe, Stephane Sejourne. The President does not take his interpellation lightly and explains to him that there is a sort of division of roles between his former adviser at the Elysée and him, France, through the voice of its leader, having to put elements in the basket which make it possible to discuss with all the parties, the Renaissance party being freer to express itself with all the firmness required. “Bardella is convincing, really. You could think he was going to behave that day like when he is on a TV set, in fact not at all”, notes, almost amazed, a macronist from the first circle.
The ulterior motives of the macronists
This unanimity in the compliment is intriguing. But as it happens, in politics, that some ulterior motives slip into the remarks, we can clearly see the interest of the maneuver. It was Jordan Bardella himself who confided it as an aside to Stéphane Séjourné: “You want to divide my party, I see your strategy!” To say good things about him is, if not to say bad things about Marine Le Pen, in any case to try to exacerbate the tensions between the two figures of the National Rally.
The string does not really date from the new world, it is as old as politics. Nevertheless, the RN also benefits from it, since its main objective for this five-year term is to gain credibility and to be perceived as capable of governing. “Our only enemy now is ourselves, Jordan Bardella explained recently. If we are good, we will win the next presidential election.” We are therefore not going to prevent others from highlighting our qualities…
During the 2022 presidential campaign, Gabriel Attal had the opportunity to debate on several occasions with Bardella and already considered him to be the most “effective” of all. During Macron’s first five-year term, the two men had one day met by chance on a plane connecting Paris and Marseille: for an hour and a half, they had discussed, two young people whose ambition suffers from few limits, two young people who have sacrificed almost everything for politics. The now Minister of National Education is 34 years old, the president of the RN will celebrate his 28th birthday next week. These two are not done meeting…