Vice president of the National Rally in charge of elected officials and mayor of the commune of Beaucaire, Julien Sanchez also becomes an MEP after his election to the European elections on the RN list led by Jordan Bardella.
After refusing twice to become a deputy, in 2017 then in 2022, Julien Sanchez finally agreed to support Jordan Bardella in the race for the European elections. The mayor of Beaucaire, elected in 17th position on the National Rally list, must now return his tricolor scarf to join the bans of the European Parliament. He himself announced that he would leave office in the event of victory on Sunday June 9.
Jean-Marie Le Pen as mentor
A fervent supporter of Jean-Marie Le Pen since he was 11, Julien Sanchez quickly became interested in politics and the ideas of the National Front. His encounter with the far-right party happened at a very young age. He accepted a video cassette from an FN activist even though his mother “forbade him to take it from the hands of these strangers from the FN who [lui] were tending.”
The young man joined the FN at 16 and was hired by Marine Le Pen as an assistant to the Île-de-France regional council at 20. Subsequently, Jean-Marie Le Pen entrusted him with the internal strategy of the party: for ten years he would take care of the FN’s communications. During Marine Le Pen’s first presidential campaign in 2012, he managed the candidate’s press relations and continued to work for the founder of the party whom he still considers today as a “model”, despite his exclusion from the party in 2015. He then became spokesperson for the FN in 2017 then for the RN until 2022 when he took on the role of vice-president of the party, before being offered an eligible place on the list for the 2024 European elections.
An absent mayor known to the courts
The mayor of Beaucaire is also a regional councilor for Occitanie, a dual role to which is added the vice-presidency of the National Rally which he seems to have difficulty managing. In investigation published by Release, we learn that the management of Beaucaire town hall is apparently not in good shape. The newspaper mentions “piles of documents piling up” everywhere in the frontist mayor’s office.
Since 2013, Julien Sanchez has been implicated several times. The last case concerns racist remarks made by Internet users on his Facebook page, which the mayor of Beaucaire was unable to moderate. This case earned him a conviction from the Nîmes court, a conviction then confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights in 2023.