In the absence of the slightest political success, the National Rally (RN) is reduced to celebrating its setbacks. Gathered on Tuesday, November 12 in a Parisian living room for the book launch party of its president, Jordan Bardella, several deputies toasted the rejection, a few hours earlier, by the National Assembly, of the first part of the finance bill ( PLF) for the year 2025. Far-right elected officials may well exaggerate their joy at burying a text which “picks the pocket of the French” after his “transformation by the left into tax asylum”this vote – and the subsequent takeover of the budget by the Senate – sealed the failure of the RN and its strategy of pressure on the government of Michel Barnier.
Barely entering Matignon, on September 5, the Savoyard had been placed “under surveillance” par l’ex-Front national. “Nothing can be done now without us”proclaimed Jordan Bardella, after having blocked other contenders for the leadership of the government (Bernard Cazeneuve, Thierry Beaudet, Xavier Bertrand). With Michel Barnier, the RN tolerated an adversary likely – depending on the movement – to serve its interests in the short or even medium term. In the absence of a majority in the National Assembly, shouldn't the former European commissioner owe his survival to respecting the “red lines” decreed by the leader of the RN deputies, Marine Le Pen, on the form – opening the door to government discussions – and the substance – granting several of its requests in terms of security, or immigration?
It is an understatement to say that Michel Barnier has freed himself from this threat. Its method of governance keeps the RN on the margins of power. In an autumn monopolized by budgetary texts, the far right has, for the moment, never influenced the positions of the executive; or without being able to take advantage of it. Its few amendments voted on during the session were swept away by the rejection of the revenue part of the PLF. And when the government conceded an about-face – on the indexation of pensions – it left it to others (Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the deputies of the Les Républicains party) to take responsibility for it.
“It travels through my mind”
During his first months at Matignon, Michel Barnier did without the extreme right, as he did without the left. Moreover, showing little more respect for their substantive requirements than for those relating to form. The RN, which refused to be treated « not even »has never been consulted on government texts; and when theirs were on the agenda – on October 31, during the party's parliamentary niche – they only received strict opposition from ministers, received by the authors as yet another “mark of contempt”. It is difficult as it stands for the RN to justify any longer the non-application of the sanction promised to a Prime Minister deaf to its demands: censorship. “It moves through my mind, good intentions [du premier ministre] remained largely unfulfilled promises”warned Marine Le Pen on November 12.
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