The National Rally list, which he already led in 2019, had already finished at the top of the European election, ahead of that of the presidential majority. Marine Le Pen did the same in 2014, a year which saw the National Front list outperform that of the UMP. Jordan Bardella believes that the context is very different
This year. Convinced that the flow of ideas
[qu’il] door in France is establishing itself in many European countries
and that millions of French people have fed up with Emmanuel Macron
he will request the dissolution of the National Assembly if his list comes to the top of the ballot this Sunday, June 9.
Read also: INVESTIGATION. European elections: how Jordan Bardella flirts with the TikTok generation
What is the flagship measure of your program?
Lower energy bills. Brussels today decides on the rules for setting energy prices at European level, which links the price of French electricity to that of German coal or gas. I want to get out of these energy pricing rules at European level, so that France can find a French price for electricity.
Is this what your program proposes, when you say you want to “remake France an energy paradise”?
Emmanuel Macron’s procrastination on the nuclear issue, under the influence of environmentalists, has caused us to waste considerable time. It has put our industry and French families in great difficulty. If we want to reindustrialize and allow the French to regain purchasing power, we must make nuclear a national strategic priority again, by reinvesting massively in this sector and making nuclear the major element of our energy mix. This would result in a mechanical reduction of 30% in electricity bills.
What are the three main areas of concern that the people you meet during the campaign tell you about?
Purchasing power first. The French have the feeling of being left alone in front of the wall of never-ending inflation, whether food or energy. Then the question of immigration. Millions of French people no longer recognize their country and can no longer tolerate helplessness in the face of a migration policy which destabilizes our identity, our security and our public accounts. The third subject we are told about is the fed up of Emmanuel Macron, who has established excess and brutality as methods of governance. His attitude and his policies infuriate millions of people. This is the reason why this European election is also a referendum for or against Emmanuel Macron.
If I win the European elections on Sunday, I will call for the dissolution of the National Assembly that same evening.
Your party came first in France in the 2014 and 2019 European elections, without demanding the dissolution of the National Assembly. Why do it this year, as you announced?
Because the context is very different. This is the only national election between now and the 2027 presidential election, therefore the only opportunity to sanction Emmanuel Macron and open the path to change. We put the Macronists in the minority in the National Assembly in June 2022. I call on the French to do the same with Macron’s Europe on June 9. If I win the European elections on Sunday, I will call for the dissolution of the National Assembly that same evening.
Would you become Prime Minister of a cohabitation government?
It’s a hypothesis. If there were to be a dissolution of the National Assembly tomorrow, followed by a majority for the National Rally, we will assume our responsibilities. But it will be up to the French to decide.
How do you plan to mobilize your voters on June 9?
By telling them that today we represent the hope of change in France. What the French are experiencing is the consequence of political choices that were decided in Paris and Brussels. There is no inevitability to this. By changing policy, we can concretely change their daily lives.
I want to move from free trade to what I call “fair trade,” by prohibiting the importation of products that do not meet the standards imposed on our farmers and businesses.
What are your proposals in the fight against global warming?
The climate challenge is a major challenge for our exhausted societies, and even more so for my generation. Today, a third of the European Union’s carbon emissions and 50% of CO emissions2 from France are linked to our imports. Consequently, if we want to take concrete action on reducing emissions, we must relocate the production of what we consume to our country and unlock the constraints that weigh on our growth. I specifically have the ambition to make Europe no longer just a continent of consumers, but a continent of producers and builders.
What overhaul of the common agricultural policy will you defend?
It has evolved under our influence and that of our allies in recent years, since we voted in favor of the principle of state aid allowing each country to determine the allocation of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) resources on its own. own floor. This is going in the right direction and must continue to evolve, particularly with regard to the distribution between small, medium and large farms. I believe in French agricultural power. I am in favor of the agricultural exception, that is to say the possibility of removing agriculture from conventional free trade agreements to negotiate trade agreements on a case-by-case basis and benefit our farmers in the award of public contracts. , particularly school canteens. This is the logic of economic patriotism that I am proposing.
You advocate a moratorium on free trade agreements and at the European level. For what duration and with what objectives?
Free trade agreements negotiated without any reciprocity clause put our producers in a situation of unfair competition. This is a cause of deindustrialization and relocation, when the large economic areas around us do the exact opposite, by protecting their jobs, their markets and their sectors. I therefore want to move from free trade to what I call “fair trade”, by prohibiting the importation of products that do not meet the standards imposed on our farmers and our businesses.
The enlargement of the European Union to 37 states would be an economic and geopolitical catastrophe. At least three of the candidate countries are in direct or indirect territorial conflict with Russia.
You are asking for a return to controls at France’s borders. Will you reinstall customs posts everywhere?
No. This is a caricatured presentation of my program made by my adversaries. Random checks at our internal borders are not enough, we must also protect Europe through the systematic pushback of migrant boats arriving on European coasts. This is what I called the double frontier. The mandate that we will give to Frontex will be to accompany these boats back to their countries of departure, instead of welcoming them and ensuring the distribution of their passengers in the different Member States of the Union, as the agency does today. today.
So you will not reestablish controls at France’s internal borders?
Only at illegal immigration crossing points, which are perfectly identified: around Perthus, on the border with Spain, or Menton, on the border with Italy. I would also like to see free movement in the Schengen area reserved for nationals of Member States only. A person of Syrian or Libyan nationality who obtains a residence permit in Italy can now legally travel and stay with us. With me, this person will be considered illegal in France and deportable.
Why do you oppose any enlargement of the European Union?
Emmanuel Macron’s project, which I am fighting in this election, is the project to enlarge the European Union to 37 states. It would be an economic catastrophe, since we want to bring in countries which are up to ten times poorer than France, and geopolitical. At least three of the candidate countries, which are Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, are in direct or indirect territorial conflict with Russia. The integration of Turkey, whose application is still under study, would create a border of the European Union with Iraq. I refuse it.
It is a safe bet that the current balances of the groups are changing significantly. The current of ideas that I carry in France is becoming established in many European countries.
Would transforming the European Commission into a “secretariat to the European Council”, as you propose, amount to making it an administration under supervision, without autonomy or any power of initiative?
That’s it. She would be responsible for implementing the decisions taken by the heads of state. I would entrust the legislative initiative to the European Council alone. Over time, the European Union has appropriated powers that have not been validated by any treaty, let alone by referendum. The Commission has become a technocratic organization distant from citizens, which cannot continue to impose decisions on the European people that are contrary to their interests. I want to change the functioning of European institutions without destroying them. This is possible thanks to the coming to power in many Member States of parties that share our ideas.
Who will you sit with in the new European Parliament? After the break with the Germans of the AFD, is a rapprochement possible with the conservatives of the ECR group, where the Italians of Georgia Meloni and the Reconquest MP Nicolas Bay sit?
No, but it is a safe bet that the current balances of the groups are changing significantly. LThe National Rally could have the largest national delegation within the European Parliament, and be in a position to form a group greater in number than that of the Macronists. What is clear is that the current of ideas that I carry in France is establishing itself in many European countries.
We must protect France from the ideology of Hamas, imported onto our soil by the extreme left, in particular via the incendiary declarations of rebellious France.
What is your position regarding Ukraine?
Our position has not changed: support Ukraine and avoid escalation with Russia which, I remind you, is a nuclear power. Supporting Ukraine means providing the Ukrainians with what they need to hold the front, ammunition, anti-tank and anti-drone equipment, and certainly not troops as Emmanuel Macron proposes. Even President Zelensky does not ask for it.
And on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Are you asking for recognition of a Palestinian state by France?
We have always been in favor of the creation of two States, which is the historic position of France. That being said, recognizing a Palestinian state today would amount to legitimizing Hamas, the Islamist terrorist organization which committed pogroms on October 7 and advocates the annihilation of the Israeli state. We must ensure that France is protected from this conflict and from the ideology of Hamas, imported onto our soil by the extreme left, in particular via the incendiary declarations of rebellious France.
Each day, West France gave the floor to one of the head of the list of parties represented in Parliament. The series ends tomorrow with Valérie Hayer (Renaissance). Find these interviews on Ouest-France.fr
