Elected to the National Assembly, the Grand Est Regional Councilor appears to be a legitimate candidate for the post of Minister of Defense in the event of a victory for the RN in the early legislative elections.
While the National Rally (RN) is currently leading the polls ahead of the early legislative elections on June 30 and July 7, the question of the composition of a hypothetical Jordan Bardella government arises. In the event of the party’s victory in the legislative vote and the formation of an RN government, the appointment of deputy Laurent Jacobelli as defense minister could arise. Indeed, if no information has yet leaked on this subject among party officials, the name of the Regional Councilor of the Grand Est could come up with insistence.
Member of the National Defense and Armed Forces Committee
Initially a television man, Laurent Jacobelli successively held the positions of program director of TV5 Monde from 2005 to 2008, director of his own television production company “Sonny Prod”, and general secretary of Zodiak Kids. It was in 2014 that a first political opportunity presented itself. He joins the party Standing France by Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. For the 2017 presidential election, he is the party leader’s campaign director, and manages the candidate’s agenda. Two months later, he is a candidate for the Legislative elections, but for the National Front (FN) in the 10th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône. He was then appointed head of communications for the Lepéniste party, then one of its spokespersons in 2019. He subsequently suffered a failure in the 2020 municipal elections by leading a list in Allauch which came in 3rd and last position in the second round. In 2021, another failure for him, this time in the regional elections in the Grand Est, as head of the regional list for the RN. During the 2022 legislative elections, he was elected in the 8th constituency of Moselle against the rebellious candidate Céline Léger. He was then appointed vice-president of the RN group. In May 2024, Laurent Jacobelli was appointed spokesperson for Jordan Bardella, the head of the RN list for the Europeans.
Since then, Laurent Jacobelli has regularly been part of national defense and armed forces committees as a French deputy. In 2023, he notably wrote an information report, number 864, at the conclusion of the work of an information mission on the results of the Military Programming Law (LPM) from 2019 to 2025. What makes him ministerable? Quite, Provence, advances in particular on a possible appointment of the deputy and advisor of the Grand Est for defense in place of Sébastien Lecornu. In a column for the JDD, on February 24, 2024, Laurent Jaobelli gave pride of place to France’s independence in matters of defense and the harmful weight of Europe in national decisions: “Emmanuel Macron drawing no lessons from these failures, is preparing this time to sacrifice our defense on the altar of Brussels, through “Defense Europe”, hand in hand with the unelected President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (…)Can we imagine that one day the nuclear button would be shared with a technocrat not elected by the French, based in Brussels? In any case, this is the scenario these two crazy Europeanists dream of,” he writes.
“It is necessary to reconnect with the concepts of united Nations and sovereignty”
Jordan Bardella’s spokesperson in the last European election does not fail to recall the failure of the policies in place and to deliver his own vision of French defense, enough to make him a legitimate candidate for the post of minister, if the RN comes to win the next legislative elections. “When our Nation engages in European MGCS (tank of the future) and SCAF (combat aircraft of the future) cooperation, it does so without a fallback plan, going beyond the sole interests of its own industry.If the obstinacy of the Macron-Von der Leyen couple therefore finds an echo among certain Nations, the latter see it above all as an opportunity to strengthen their own armies and defense industries, even if it means weakening those of a France considered naive.
For him, “at a time when European nations are enhancing their defense capabilities, the challenge is not to merge our armies into a “great European whole”, but to make them interoperable.France must be able to call on its English and German allies if their interests are threatened. Conversely, just like our partners, we must have the possibility to refuse to intervene if an external operation harms our interests. Let’s remember Iraq! (…) It is more necessary than ever to reconnect with the concepts of united nations and sovereignty… and to never forget that imperialism, even if it is European, has always brought war, never peace.”