The three-piece suit had been ironed for the occasion. On March 19 and 20, Jordan Bardella, head of the National Rally list for the European elections, gave his grand oral presentation to business leaders. An ambition: to do “education” about the economic program of the far-right party which, he assures, has always been poorly understood by the business world, traditionally hostile to the Lepenist party.
To promote his program (the three pillars of which are “produce, protect and enable”), Jordan Bardella has pulled out his best commercial assets. The smile of the best employee of the month, impeccable presentation, popular keywords from his liberal audience and consensual statements, which had already proven themselves on television sets or between two stands in a trade show. “The economy is first and foremost trust and pragmatism,” he assured business owners on Tuesday and Wednesday, reciting a speech identical, down to the comma, to representatives of the investor association France Invest, CroissancePlus (network of managers of SMEs and mid-sized companies) and the Movement of Mid-Size Enterprises (METI) on Tuesday, and those of the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME) Wednesday.
A cajoling speech
It must be said that Jordan Bardella is going to great lengths to seduce this electorate which still eludes him. Already in January, he had been very well received according to the CPME, with a series of selfies and exchanges of cards, multiplying pro-business declarations, invoking Xavier Niel and the pride of French fortunes. For months he has maintained his little liberal image, which denotes the Frontist tradition, that he speaks of “open economy” or quotes François Lenglet, while his entourage shouts on the megaphone that he is having lunch with bosses of the CAC 40. To the representatives of the CPME, this week, he again assured: “We must have a lot of humility with economic subjects, the decision-maker must be aware that he does not know better than the business manager how runs your business, a humble word is the beginning of the solution.” His audience blushed with pleasure. Until Jordan Bardella began to detail his economic program.
In front of the employers’ organizations, all keen on more Europe, the candidate for the European elections began by confining himself to national issues, insisting in particular on the elimination of taxes or production taxes for businesses. “You mention French subjects,” said Audrey Louail, president of CroissancePlus, “but what about European subjects, what are your proposals at this level?”
“His presentation lacked depth, added METI co-president Frédéric Coirier. He did not want to expose himself too much, we understood that, but his approach is too protectionist and lacks details on Europe and the decisions which are taken in Brussels.” On his figures concerning the standards applied to companies, also, the president of the RN was corrected during his demonstration. “Regarding standards, you mention an overall figure, which is a myth based on a statement by Jacques Delors, which is in reality very difficult to quantify,” said Yves Bertoncini, moderator of the exchange and teacher. at Mines ParisTech.
Bosses unconvinced on the merits
Rebelotte, the next day, in front of representatives of the CPME (whom he had already met in 2019). Jordan Bardella abandoned the three-piece suit but kept the same argument. This time, it is over an emblematic measure of the Lepenist party that the bosses have raised eyebrows: the proposal allowing companies to increase salaries by 10%, while being exempt from charges. The text was included in January in the RN niche in the Assembly, and is one of Marine Le Pen’s key proposals in favor of purchasing power.
“Allow me to come back to your proposal, questioned, skeptically, the president of the CPME, François Asselin. We are not resistant to increasing salaries, but do you not fear that we will then drop in labor costs ? Isn’t this a demagogic proposal which risks making us lose our competitiveness, and a smokescreen for our employees because sales prices also risk increasing by 10%?” Response from Jordan Bardella: “In any case, business leaders will have the freedom to choose.” Laughter in the room, followed by some ironic thanks.
Like the day before, the head of the list got a little confused on technical details, indicating that they wanted to put in place a three-year period to allow companies that cross a legal workforce threshold to adapt. Live fact-checking: “We already have a five-year deadline in France,” recalled François Asselin.
“It lacks credibility”
Another subject on which the candidate failed to reassure: that of debt, discussed several times. Here again, the president of the RN wanted to be reassuring. “I think that a debt can be repaid, and we will repay the debt thanks to growth and reindustrialization, he declared twice, before adding: “Rest assured that we are attentive to this economic situation, and that we will not do anything, we will have a reasonable position.” Distrust in the ranks. “His speech on the issue is very incantatory,” reacts Frédéric Coirier. “It lacks credibility,” adds François Asselin. “For us, it’s a huge subject and a candidate who has no idea about it lacks credibility. His speech is sweet to our ears, he knows how to have the words -keys, but when we get into the concrete exercise, it’s more complicated.” Conclusion, for the CPME: “In the economic and social field, there is still room for improvement, to say the least.”
Whatever. Jordan Bardella, pretending not to understand, hastened to declare to the journalists present: “The decade which is ending confirms an ideological victory of the RN on economic questions.” Same thing regarding the frontist proposal to increase salaries by 10%: “I think that business leaders are convinced by this measure which represents for them a concrete solution”, he assures with confidence about those who , less than an hour earlier, clarified the exact opposite. Response, quite Bardellian, to this journalistic objection: “You are too attached to details.” Advice, therefore, to business leaders: do not look too closely at the economic program of the National Rally.
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