Xavier Bertrand has a long history of animosity with the National Rally, with whom he clashes in his stronghold of Hauts-de-France. While François Bayrou forms his government, the far-right party is putting pressure so that the elected LR does not take over too important a ministry.
This is one of the blocking points which prevented François Bayrou from unveiling his government team this Sunday, December 22. The Prime Minister is considering the portfolio he could assign to Xavier Bertrand, but fears the reaction of the National Rally if this ardent opponent of the far-right party was given a leading position.
In the event of the arrival of the LR boss of Hauts-de-France at the post of Minister of Justice, “the pressure for censorship will be difficult to contain”, warned Marine Le Pen's entourage to BFMTV.
Earlier today, on our antenna, the vice-president of the RN Sébastien Chenu affirmed that the arrival of the president of the Hauts-de-France region to the government would constitute a “arm of honor” made to the National Rally.
“Hostility, even hatred”
And for good reason, there is, between Xavier Bertrand, and the National Rally a long history of mutual hatred.
“The RN never”, “they are good for nothing”, “the only skill of the RN is to know how to capture the anger of the French”, “liars”, “charlots”… Towards the far-right party , Xavier Bertrand is not to be outdone and multiplies the criticism, denouncing in particular his “permanent backpedaling”.
“I do not hide from you that I have all the reservations, humanly, about Xavier Bertrand, but beyond my personal satisfaction, it is politically interesting, because Xavier Bertrand is the only one of the candidates who has always expressed hostility , even hatred, towards the National Rally, and myself for that matter”, affirmed Marine Le Pen in 2021, during the defeat of Xavier Bertrand at the Republican congress.
As recalled Le Figaroin 2012, just eliminated from the first round of the presidential election, Marine Le Pen had registered Xavier Bertrand on a “black list” where the names of PS or UMP personalities who had behaved towards “FN voters” were listed. particularly contemptuous, hateful, insulting and undemocratic” and which she had called for to be defeated in the legislative elections.
But the dispute between the two protagonists took root especially from 2015, when Xavier Bertrand won the Hauts-de-France region against Marine Le Pen, thanks to a “republican front” and a withdrawal of the left-wing candidate. On the evening of the first round, however, Marine Le Pen was in the lead with more than 40% of the votes against 25% for her competitor.
“Break the jaws” of the RN
During his mandate, Xavier Bertrand then claimed to be part of a “social” right, seeking to prevent voters, particularly from the working class, from voting for his rivals in the National Rally. For their part, far-right elected officials regularly criticize Xavier Bertrand for his, they say, proximity to Emmanuel Macron and the macronie in general.
According to Le Figaro, this opposition gave rise to electric sessions between the majority and the only opposition in the Hauts-de-France Regional Council.
In the 2021 regional elections, Xavier Bertrand is reappointed as head of the region. This time, he is well ahead of the National Rally, represented by Sébastien Chenu while Marine Le Pen was focused on the race for the Élysée. On the evening of the results of the second round, Xavier Bertrand was delighted to have “broke the jaws” of the National Rally. An expression that does not pass.
'”We can't talk like suburban scum, or else we shouldn't complain about the violence that elected officials suffer,” Marine Le Pen commented a few days later.
Do you know RN
Last September, when Xavier Bertrand was tipped for Matignon, the RN, with its 126 deputies, had already vetoed and threatened to overthrow a government led by its historic opponent.
Since then, Xavier Bertrand has not moderated his attacks against the far-right party. The LR president of Hauts-de-France again recently criticized the “great act of hypocrisy” played according to him by the RN when he denounced an “attack on democracy” after the sentence of ineligibility required against Marine Le Pen in the trial of MEPs' assistants.
“Democracy is also respect for justice,” he insisted, recalling that in 2004, at the time of the trial of Alain Juppé in the case of fictitious jobs of the RPR, where the potential candidate for the presidential election had been affected by a penalty of ineligibility, Marine Le Pen had estimated that “we are fed up with these elected officials who embezzle money”.
François Blanchard and Salomé Roblès
