September 6. It’s time for the summer break to end. At the National Rally, we like it long and quiet. While all of Paris was bustling during the summer around the nomination of a Prime Minister by Emmanuel Macron, the elected officials of the far-right party and its leaders were enjoying happy days far from the media tumult.
It was necessary to return. Early, in fact, for Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, invited by Emmanuel Macron as part of his consultations. Excluded from the negotiations until then, the Le Penists had taken refuge behind their favorite costume: that of the anti-system. In two words: to camp out a frank opposition by refusing, publicly, to join in discussions considered as “electoral shambles” from which they would like to remain apart.
But as is often the case with the National Front, there is theory and practice. Because, in reality, Marine Le Pen loves electoral scheming. Political strategy, negotiations, too. Even more so since she is at the head of a large group of deputies and capable of concretely harming the presidential majority. So here is the leader of the extreme right being sounded out from all sides by the presidential camp. What profile of Prime Minister could suit her? What would her conditions be? Bernard Cazeneuve, Xavier Bertrand, that’s a red card. Michel Barnier, on the other hand… Why not, we’ll see. No censorship a priori in any case, assures Marine Le Pen. And a strong margin for negotiation.
“A bouquet of measures” demanded from Michel Barnier
In a few days, the National Front changed course, putting on their responsible opposition costume again. Will they censor or not? The RN will wait for Michel Barnier’s general policy speech to make its decision. But conciliation has a price. That of a “bouquet of measures” that Marine Le Pen and her troops would like to see implemented by the new tenant of Matignon. Back on the table is a project long demanded by the Le Penist party: the implementation of proportional representation. But not only that. Three other themes have been identified: “immigration, insecurity, and purchasing power”, indicated Marine Le Pen on the day of Michel Barnier’s appointment.
Regarding the last theme, the RN pulls out one of its proposals: the reduction of VAT to 5.5% on energy, supported by Marine Le Pen during the 2022 presidential election, and by the RN during the campaign for the legislative elections last July.
On the subjects of migration and security, no specific proposals have yet been formulated, but Marine Le Pen’s entourage indicates that they could be drawn from the “emergency measures” brandished by Jordan Bardella as part of the legislative campaign. Namely, on insecurity: the establishment of minimum sentences and the elimination of family allowances for parents of juvenile offenders; and, concerning immigration: the elimination of the right of birth, as well as that of State Medical Aid, which would be replaced by a specific fund “intended for vital emergencies”.
Red lines to be defined
On Franceinfo, this Friday, the RN MP for Var, Laure Lavalette, indicated that the RN representatives (without specifying whether it would be Marine Le Pen or Jordan Bardella) would go to meet Michel Barnier. The outlines of this “bouquet of measures” remain to be defined, like the red lines on which the RN would refuse to compromise, and the Frontist executives are not yet completely aligned on the position to be held. Laure Lavalette indicated for example that a “tax increase that would weigh on the middle classes” would constitute a red line. “Did she talk about a red line?”, a skeptical Le Pen strategist asked privately. A clarification should be made in the coming days.
Marine Le Pen, on Thursday, has already taken the time to brief her troops on the new line to be held. The Front National deputies, for their part, have retained one essential piece of information: after a summer of being sidelined, they are back at the centre of the political game.
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