Describing the convictions and racist remarks of the former president of the National Front as “controversial”, François Bayrou provoked the anger of part of the political class.
Almost every day has its own controversy. While several of his choices and statements have been strongly criticized since his arrival at the head of government at the end of December, François Bayrou is at the heart of a new controversy for his message published on X following the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen. “Beyond the controversies which were his favorite weapon and the necessary confrontations on the merits, JM Le Pen will have been a figure of French political lifewrote the head of government on the American social network. We knew, by fighting him, what a fighter he was.»
Words that are far too light for the left in view of the multiple convictions for “contesting crimes against humanity” and the numerous racist remarks of Jean-Marie le Pen. “Is this how you define convictions for racial hatred and Holocaust denial? But what world do you live in?for example, was moved by the deputy of La France insoumise Aly Diouara. Recalling the crimes committed by Marine Le Pen’s father during the Algerian war, LFI MP Alma Dufour accused the Prime Minister of making “tribute to the father to better collaborate with his daughter”while the non-censorship of the Bayrou government is, in part, in the hands of the RN.
For the anti-fascist activist Raphaël Arnault, also elected to the National Assembly since this summer, this smooth message from François Bayrou comes as no surprise: “This same François Bayrou sponsored Marine Le Pen in 2022 to “save democracy””he wrote on X. During the last presidential election, the president of MoDem launched a “sponsorship bank” for candidates high in the polls who have not gathered the necessary signatures of elected officials. This initiative was to benefit in particular the far-right candidates Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour, but also the left, with the candidates Philippe Poutou and Christiane Taubira.
“Shameful and terrible drift”
LFI’s messages of indignation were quickly followed by those of the other parties of the New Popular Front. “It is not a question of controversies, but of convictions for racist, anti-Semitic and Holocaust denial remarks”for the communist senator Ian Brossat. Same speech for the communist vice-president of the Senate Pierre Ouzoulias for whom “Jean-Marie Le Pen, through his actions and his words, was outside the republican framework”qualifying the words of François Bayrou as“unworthy”.
“Definitely, you have completely let go of the ramp”reacted environmentalist MEP David Cormand, while senator (Les Ecologists) Mélanie Vogel describes the Prime Minister’s tweet as“shameful and terrible drift”. At the Socialist Party, when senator and former minister Laurence Rossignol intimated Bayrou “to delete this post and to apologize, flatly, very flatly”former senator David Assouline takes offense: “Imagine the same words for the fascists, racists, anti-Semites, who have traveled our tragic history in France, Germany, Italy or Spain”.
Critics down to macronie
More rarely, these criticisms have gone beyond the borders of the NFP. Diplomatic advisor to Emmanuel Macron during the 2027 campaign, diplomat Gérard Araud did not lack clarity. “No, these were not “controversies” but intentionally racist, Holocaust denial and anti-Semitic statements”he replied to the new Prime Minister. A rare right-wing political figure to have reacted, the deputy related to the Right Republic group Julien Dive did not mince his words. “By wanting to be too focused on oneself and the one who holds the hangman’s rope, we rewrite history in “controversies” where it is about scandals and legal convictions”he wrote on X.
After the arrival of Jean-Marie Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election in 2002, François Bayrou, then UDF candidate who came fourth, did not procrastinate in giving his voting instructions, calling for “to be today the most mobilized of all to vote for Jacques Chirac”. At the time, for François Bayrou, Jean-Marie Le Pen was “the symptom of evil”. Clearly a different tone.
