“Not having a conviction on your criminal record is, for me, the number one rule when you want to be a parliamentarian of the Republic,” judged, last Monday, on BFMTV, the president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella. Immediate reaction from journalist Maxime Switek: “What if Marine Le Pen was convicted? “. Small moment of hesitation from the president of the RN: “Yes, with ifs… There is an appeal, which will not confirm (a possible ineligibility, Editor's note), since Marine Le Pen is totally innocent”, he tries to say. justify.
Does Bardella want to “kill mother” Le Pen?
Blunder or missed act? A distancing from the one to whom he devotes an entire chapter of his book, “What I am looking for” (Fayard), and to whom he has sworn, since his beginnings in politics, total allegiance? A first stab like Brutus to “kill the mother”, as Marine Le Pen did in her time to assert herself against her father, Jean-Marie?
Having accompanied the demonization of the party, Jordan Bardella has an additional advantage against Marine Le Pen, entangled in the trial for suspicion of embezzlement of European funds, which is being held until November 27 in Paris: he does not bear the name of Le Pen.
If the judges condemn Marine Le Pen – which, for those watching the trial, is inevitable – the question of an alternative presidential candidacy will arise sooner than expected. As much as Macron, destabilized by possible political chaos, decides to resign. Jordan Bardella says he is ready. What he intends to demonstrate on each page of his book, the third part of which, programmatic, draws the outlines of the man of government that he is preparing to be, master of himself, praising his “will” and his “Olympian calm”.
His team in commando mode
Spotted in 2016, at the age of 20, by Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, in his career as a young man in a hurry, also knew how to surround himself with young shoots. Exit Marion Maréchal, whose “vocation is not to return to the RN”, he declared. Although they are practically of the same generation, he has never had any chemistry with Marine Le Pen's niece, who could be a formidable competitor. Around him, we identify a militant generation, acting in “commando mode”. Very secretive people.
A team of thirty-somethings, who would govern alongside him if that day comes: his chief of staff, Arthur Perrier, 23 years old; Pierre-Romain Thionnet, 30 years old, MEP and national director of the Youth Rally; Alexandre Loubet, former traveling companion of Nicolas Dupont-Aignan; Victor Chabert, political journalist who joined the RN after the last presidential campaign, to take care of the press; Mathilde Androuët, candidate for “true ecology”, as she defines herself…
Le Pen-Bardella: “Not clones!” »
“Marine and I are not clones,” says Jordan Bardella in his book. Indeed, the currents of thought that irrigate the duo are significantly different. Sovereignist, Marine Le Pen argued for a long time for leaving the euro before resolving to abandon the idea: the French did not want it. Populist, she wants to repeal the right-left opposition. For Jordan Bardella, on the other hand, the question of identity is the basis of his commitment, as shown in the photo on the back cover of his book, where he telephones, in Athens, with the Acropolis in the distance.
Reference to hellenophilia – Greece is the cradle of democracy – which he claims?
In “The New Generation Far Right” (Denoël), Nicolas Massol and Marylou Magal report that the RN MEP Pierre-Romain Thionnet, as a good ideologue, advises new members of La Cocarde, the far-right student union in which he advocates works by ethno-differentialist authors*. A civilizational fight, resolutely hostile to immigration, dear to Jordan Bardella, who campaigns for the union of the rights.
Censorship and stature
At the beginning of January, the judgment in the parliamentary assistants' case will seal the future of Marine Le Pen, declared candidate for a fourth presidential campaign, by decreeing, or not, the provisional execution of a sentence. For now, the RN is threatening Michel Barnier to vote for censorship, while the internal tensions of the common base have never been so strong.
In the secrecy of the party, the discussions to discuss the succession were not “mentioned at all”, we are told… To see. Marine Le Pen nevertheless clarified, this week, that in the event of an impediment, the RN would have a successor… “The RN offers opportunities that others do not offer”, declared Jordan Bardella, during the launch, in December 2022, from the RNJ, the National Rally for Youth. A maxim that he could now apply to himself. Even if, for many, he doesn't have the build.
* Theory which can be summarized as follows: each people has its differences and stays at home.
