In the midst of legislative elections, the foreign origins of Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally (RN), are at the center of interest. The candidate hostile to immigration turns out to have deep ties with the Maghreb and Islam.
Behind the public image he projects, highlighting his Italian roots, lies a more complex family history with links to the Maghreb. The investigation carried out by the magazine Jeune Afrique reveals that Jordan Bardella’s maternal great-grandfather, Mohand-Séghir Mada, was an Algerian immigrant from Kabylia. Now, we learn that his paternal grandfather is an Italian who immigrated to France before settling in Morocco and converting to Islam.
Arriving in France in the 1930s, Jordan Bardella’s Kabyle ancestor worked as a construction worker in Villeurbanne. As for his paternal grandfather, Guerrino Bardella, was a cabinetmaker who immigrated to France in 1960. A few years later, he moved to Morocco, married a Moroccan woman and is said to have converted to Islam. Thus, both grandparents of the president of the National Rally come from the immigration that he is fighting against today.
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According to the Jeune Afrique investigation, Guerrino Bardella was born in Italy in 1944 before immigrating to France at the age of 16. In 1963, he married Réjane Mada, the daughter of Mohand-Séghir Mada. The couple had one child, Olivier Bardella, in 1968, before divorcing.
Guerrino Bardella has a 10-year residence permit in Morocco
After the divorce, Guerrino immigrated to Morocco where he worked as a cabinetmaker in Casablanca. A few years later, he met and married Hakima, a Moroccan woman. This is said to have led him to convert to Islam in accordance with local laws.
Guerrino Bardella then made a name for himself as a carpenter-cabinetmaker respected by the expatriate community and the Casablanca bourgeoisie. Guerrino Bardella has successfully integrated into Morocco. Now aged 80, he is still alive and holds a residence permit valid for 10 years, obtained in 2016 for “family reunification”.
These revelations about Jordan Bardella’s family origins highlight some of the far-right politician’s contradictions on the issue of immigration and dual nationality. Coming from an immigrant background, he accuses this same immigration of being the deep evil of France and promises to do everything to combat it. For others, Jordan Bardella can be presented as an example of assimilation and integration in France.
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