While Thierry Mariani, who does not hide his proximity to Russia, is on Jordan Bardella’s list for the European elections, Marine Le Pen would like to point out that the MEP shares the same positions as Nicolas Sarkozy on Crimea. And maintains that she and Jordan Bardella don’t share them.
How can we justify certain links of the National Rally with Russia when we campaign for the far-right party? This is the question asked this Monday to Marine Le Pen by Jordan, an RN activist. “On the ground, in the middle of the European campaign, many are telling me that they are reluctant to vote for Jordan Bardella because of the issues linked to Russia that worry them. How can you reassure them?” he.
“Our political adversaries have used the Ukrainian conflict to give us a caricatured image,” Marine Le Pen said this Monday on RMC and BFMTV. “But for me it is the interest of France and the French which guides my action and my decisions. Russia will not disappear with the speeches of one or the other. It will not be wiped off the map, it exists and it must be taken into account.”
Thierry Mariani on the same wavelength as Nicolas Sarkozy?
But it is in particular the presence of Thierry Mariani, 9th on Jordan Bardella’s list which raises questions. The RN MEP traveled several times to Crimea where he met Vladimir Putin after the annexation of the territory by Russia in 2014.
When questioned, Marine Le Pen referred to Nicolas Sarkozy and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing: “Thierry Mariani has the same position on Crimea as the president of whom he was minister (Nicolas Sarkozy, editor’s note). Nicolas Sarkozy and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing think the same thing (that Thierry Mariani, editor’s note)”.
“The subject is not there. The world is as it is, not as we would like it to be. My responsibility as a political leader is to tell the French about realities that may displease,” continues Marine Le Pen.
For Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron takes the war in Ukraine “lightly”
Asked about the presence of Thierry Mariani on his list, Jordan Bardella for his part considered that the MEP did not have “the same sensitivity as Marine Le Pen” and himself. “Yes, we do not have the same sensitivity as Thierry Mariani and Nicolas Sarkozy obviously on the subject,” added Marine Le Pen, recalling the recent positions of the RN on the question of the war in Ukraine.
“We immediately supported Ukraine and condemned Russia. We offered to provide defensive weapons to Ukraine. On the other hand, we set red lines: we do not want Ukraine to enter the NATO and the European Union and send troops into a war which for the moment is not that of France,” she insisted.
“War is the worst thing that can happen to a people and a country and I am struck by the lightness with which Emmanuel Macron takes this. He wants to send troops for a question of ego and personal image” , adds Marine Le Pen.
Guillaume Dussourt Journalist BFMTV-RMC
