Patience is the mother of safety. The motto is currently infusing the MEPs of the National Rally. Accustomed for months to not being informed of anything regarding the European campaign of the far-right party (and therefore their own fate directly), the elected frontists have come to terms with the idea. No information on the list, almost nothing on the program, so why should it be any different regarding the RN’s strategy towards its European allies?
Well, everyone understands that things are heating up at the moment with the AfD, a German party allied to the RN, also a member of the Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament. In February, some of its leaders were caught red-handed in being told about a “remigration” plan. Alice Weidel, president of the party, was therefore ordered to explain herself by Marine Le Pen, and had little taste of this humiliation. She took revenge last week, taking advantage of a trip to Mayotte to question the restitution of Mayotte to the Comoros. “The message from the Germans is: you wanted to humiliate me, you will be able to get lost,” comments a connoisseur of European workings. In the European Parliament, there is little appreciation of Marine Le Pen’s attitude towards the Germans.
In recent polls, the AfD is close to 20% of voting intentions, and therefore constitutes a strong ally for the next mandate, especially with the prospect of a Lega (the Italian party of Matteo Salvini, also a member of the group ID) losing speed. “Those close to Marine Le Pen advise her to be harsh towards the Germans, but as they know nothing about the European Parliament, they do not realize the consequences of their declarations. We need the Germans “, complains an executive.
A weakened ID group
This was without counting the recent scandal surrounding Maximilan Krah, the head of the AfD list for the upcoming elections. Already accused of having received money from a Russian propaganda network, the MEP found himself entangled in another affair, this Tuesday, April 23, linked to his parliamentary assistant, arrested for spying on behalf of the China. “Well, maybe it’s starting to do a lot,” we even concede in Strasbourg. The subject was raised internally, and the decision was made not to cut ties until knowing a little more about this story. Already very isolated in the European Parliament, the RN cannot afford a hermit’s life while the ID group emerges weakened from the mandate. A year ago, the Finnish nationalists, judging the group too Russophile, left ID to join the competing group ECR, more conservative and Atlanticist in DNA – it is this group that the Zemmourist elected representatives would join if they obtained seats on June 9. In the corridors, people whisper that the Danish elected officials and the only Estonian elected official in the group are also dreaming of setting sail. However, to be able to form a group in the European Parliament, you must have at least 23 elected representatives and eight different nationalities. For the moment, the ID group only has nine nationalities.
It has been months since the RN went hunting for allies. Through its MEPs? You think. The task was entrusted to Thibaut François, loyal to Marine Le Pen, former secretary general of the group in the European Parliament, elected to the National Assembly in June 2022, who is said to have a little difficulty mourning the loss of his former position. “It’s someone from the French Parliament who takes care of European allies, what do you want me to tell you…” laments an elected official. For the moment, the prospects for alliances are not encouraging. Despite repeated demonstrations of affection on the part of the RN towards the Hungarian party of Viktor Orban, the Fidesz MEPs, group orphans for some time, seem to prefer the ECR group, where the elected representatives of Fratelli d’Italia, the party of Giorgia Meloni – who does not particularly appreciate the RN, which repays her. The frontists, however, have hope for the Portuguese populist Chega party, which should enter the European Parliament within the ID group.
The abandonment of the “supergroup”
The idea, however, of creating a “supergroup”, long defended by the RN, was abandoned out of thin air. Last year, in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Republica, Marine Le Pen still assured that a “large Eurogroup of sovereignists” could see the light of day. Since the start of the September school year, Jordan Bardella, head of the RN list, has been careful not to mention it. The reason for this renunciation: ideological and strategic differences between the different far-right parties. On the Russian question, in particular, but also on economic and societal questions, where the members of ECR display a more liberal conservative positioning than the ID group, and a strategy of greater participation in the European game.
At the RN, from now on, we no longer speak of a supergroup, but of a “coalition”. “The idea was abandoned, confirms an executive. We realized that it would not be possible, we are instead turning to a collaboration platform, or a vote-by-vote collaboration with the sovereignist parties.” We still have to come to an agreement with these putative allies. The Polish elected representatives of the PiS, for example, regularly cited by the RN, voted against the amendments made by the latter last February regarding allegations of Russian interference in the democratic processes of the European Union, and in which the frontists defended themselves, due to the loan taken out with a Russian bank in particular, from any proximity to Russia.
Even internally, some people are annoyed by this idea of a “coalition” which they describe as a “marketing argument”. “It’s bogus, a collaboration platform, it has no institutional reality,” annoys a frontist, who specifies that vote-by-vote collaborations already exist. On the RN side, we dismiss the subject by specifying that “nothing can be decided before June 10”, the day after the election. Jordan Bardella prefers to focus on his national campaign than on his potential future isolation in the European Parliament. Tuesday April 23, an evening was organized in Brussels by the ID group. The group’s president, Italian Marco Zanni, gave a short speech of encouragement. Jordan Bardella did not make the trip.