Monday morning, 10 a.m. Marine Le Pen is on the Matignon square, flanked by Jordan Bardella. It was her that François Bayrou chose to receive first as part of his consultations to form a new government. The discussion with the new Prime Minister lasted more than an hour and she did not seem unhappy with the content of the exchanges. The leader of the far-right party believes she has been “listened to” and emerges with the certainty that the elected representatives of the National Rally will be “treated like the others”. Common ground, the implementation of proportional representation, was even considered – the subject had already been raised during a telephone interview between the far-right leader and François Bayrou as revealed by L'Express . And if Marine Le Pen assures that she is now waiting for “actions”, she seems satisfied with the treatment reserved for her and even intends to repeat the experience.
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But then, who was this woman, this Sunday in Etrépagny (Eure), taken on stage to attack this “political system which feigns disagreement while it unites its forces every day against the interests of the French”? Less than 24 hours before going to Matignon, during a meeting of her party, Marine Le Pen still vilified “this single party, which was already an unnatural electoral agreement (…), pushed to the limits of its logic , by building a despicable coalition of opposites, ready to do anything to secure ministerial positions.”
Acknowledged by the system she claims to fight
On the right side, therefore, the communication channels are open with François Bayrou, avenues of consensus discussed, possibilities of appeasement outlined. On the other hand, the RN continues its use of populist arguments, posing itself as the sole alternative to a political class united in a single hypocritical and power-hungry party. What matter are the meetings, the political coups, the introduction of Marine Le Pen into this system that she so decries, political pluralism would be a chimera, and the RN alone would oppose this system. This double game of the RN is not new. It is only a little more visible, and the balancing act a little more complex as the Lepenist party is dubbed by this system that it claims to fight.
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Wasn't Marine Le Pen herself officially cited in a press release from Michel Barnier? Propelled, thus, to the rank of respectable opposition. Jordan Bardella, too, was heaped with praise by the entourage of the President of the Republic, after the meetings in Saint-Denis? At the Palais Bourbon, hadn't the Lepénistes obtained vice-presidential positions, managed to get some of their amendments voted on by the other groups, and participated in negotiations? “No one can anymore believe that the RN is not part of the system, they are the main component,” laughs an observer from the Assembly.
Dissatisfied voters
Since 2022, particularly with the arrival of a large group of RN deputies, has Marine Le Pen not confirmed her induction into the system? The breakthrough is also visible within social classes formerly hostile to the Lepenist party. Sided circles of power are now opening their doors to him, associations, local notables, representatives of economic circles, too. Can a party still claim to be anti-system when one of its deputies delivers the handover speech for the governor of the Lions Club of Menton? Or that its president is received for lunch by the National Grand Lodge of France?
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Some voters, in any case, expressed some reservations. Before the RN joined its voices with those of the left to censure the Barnier government, several deputies had encountered some dissatisfied people. “They wonder why we don’t censor this government, what we are waiting for to show that we are really opponents,” confided one of them at the time. Other weak signals may have alerted the party. Last week, for example, when disgruntled farmers walled up the premises of MP Hélène Laporte. Or that others dumped manure in front of Caroline Colombier's office, in Charente. “Don’t count on me to defend you anymore!” fumed the frontist, outraged at being treated like the others.
Radicalize your base to better expand
Whatever. These elements do not cross the sound barrier. The polls continue to be positive for the RN and Marine Le Pen, from Eure, can continue to pose as a representative of the “party of trust and truth”, denouncing the false in order to claim the truth. Because from the political instability, the far-right party has drawn a certainty, delivered by a close friend of Marine Le Pen: “This period marks the twilight of macronism, therefore the political landscape returns to what it was in 2014-2015 , hence the interest in reconnecting with a populist discourse.” The bet is therefore simple: continue to radicalize your base while working discreetly to conquer a new electorate. Without excluding, of course, a few meetings with the new Prime Minister.
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