In this new school year, the National Rally is discreet. We rarely hear it. What does its leader, Marine Le Pen, think of the issues that agitate current politics? The school, the budget that the government will present, the future immigration law… It’s radio silence or almost.
Meanwhile, some lieutenants toured the morning shows while Jordan Bardella busied himself with recalling the party’s flagship proposals during the Saint-Denis meetings. The head of the RN deputies will surely say more this Sunday during her political return at the settlement of Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), and in Beaucaire (Gard) the following week on the occasion of the flame of the universities. summer party.
Up in the polls
There is no reason to hurry: the polls prove him right. The three-time presidential candidate now gets 37% favorable opinions according to a Viavoice study for Release Posted this Tuesday. That represents an increase of 10 points compared to November 2021.
This score makes him the second favorite French personality behind Édouard Philippe, a former prime minister who could become his opponent during the next Élysée match in 2027. Around 4 out of 10 respondents consider that the Pas-de -Calais ” embodies republican values well”, which is “competent” and “presidential”.
“Embodying a Credible Alternative”
A paradigm shift that can be explained by several reasons. First, those that are the result of the RN strategy.
“The last presidency marked the end of a cycle, that of demonization, and the beginning of a new phase, that of respectabilization,” recalls Matthieu Croissandeau, a political columnist for BFMTV.
In other words, it was about “destroying the sulphurous heritage” of Jean-Marie Le Pen, in order to then try “to embody a credible alternative for the next elections.” With its entry into the National Assembly with 89 deputies – a historic figure – the RN continued its search for notability during the first year of this 16th legislature. The elected representatives of the far-right party circulate through the spaces of the Borbón Palace in a suit and tie, trying to demonstrate at every opportunity their respect for the customs of the institutions…
Not always well-oiled, the respectability machine has sometimes stalled, as when MP Grégoire de Fournas made racist comments while telling his colleague Carlos Martens-Bilongo to “go back to Africa”. The latter considered that the event allowed to reveal the “true face” of the RN. It is also a way of implying that nothing has changed in the RN, the old FN until 2018.
“A normal political force”
However, the Macronists refuse to rush into such breaches. Elisabeth Borne learned this the hard way, calling the RN an “heir to Pétain” last May. The result: a reformulation of Emmanuel Macron in the Council of Ministers, the President of the Republic recommended privileging the “concrete” against the “false promises” of the RN instead of “historical and moral arguments”.
“After having done a lot in the republican arc, he ended up considering the National Grouping as a normal political force”, analyzes Matthieu Croissandeau.
A recent example: the Saint-Denis meetings, intended to give “body to the great political initiative” desired by the Head of State. Initially, the latter said that he wanted to invite “the political forces of the Republican arch”, which in fact, if we stick to the meaning of this expression in the eyes of the macronistas until now, excluded RN and LFI.
But the two formations were present last Wednesday. And Jordan Bardella even received a phone call from the Élysée tenant before this meeting. This reinforces the credibility of this political force. That it was also found relatively preserved from the attacks of the macronistas, in comparison with the numerous arrows fired against the rebels.
Each has their own responsibilities. This situation “also depends on the right, which now welcomes without blinking an eye the proposals of RN, which [le] it gives credibility”, says Matthieu Croissandeau, taking the example of the two LR immigration bills. Marine Le Pen’s troops denounced a “copy and paste”.
LFI “makes RNs look like altar boys”
As for the left, “on the contrary, it makes the RN pass off as altar boys”, due to “their attitude of systematic protest, of radicalization”, judges our editorialist. An analysis that applies especially to the rebels, who have at times distinguished themselves from their partners in Nupes.
With the much more regular presentation of motions of no confidence, for example. Or seeking to bog down the discussions on the pension reform in the National Assembly so that article 7 on the postponement of the legal age is not debated. The RN, who also remained especially in the background, took advantage of this sequence.
Source: BFM TV
