(Paris) The far right said it was “ready to govern” France on Monday, one week before the first round of crucial legislative elections in which it is the big favorite.
“We are ready” to govern, repeated Jordan Bardella, the young president of the French far-right National Rally (RN) party during a presentation of his program, while polls credit him with 35.5 to 36%. voices.
The RN is “the only movement that can immediately and reasonably implement the aspirations” of the French, said the man who, at 28, aspires to become prime minister.
Abroad, he repeated that he would maintain France’s support for Kyiv but would oppose the sending of long-range missiles and French troops to Ukraine. He also ruled out recognition of a Palestinian state, saying that “it would be recognizing terrorism.”
Mr. Bardella also waved the red rag in the event of victory for the New Popular Front, an alliance of left-wing parties (27 to 29.5% according to polls) united for the occasion despite deep fundamental differences, by predicting the the explosion of immigration or even a deep economic crisis.
The majority camp of President Emmanuel Macron, criticized from all sides for having dissolved the National Assembly, appears to be the most weakened of the three competing forces (19.5 to 20%), even with an alliance with the Republicans (right ) opposed to the RN (7 to 10%).
The left-wing alliance remains mired in speculation surrounding its very divisive candidate for the post of prime minister, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the radical left La France Insoumise (LFI).
“If he wants to help the New Popular Front, he has to step aside and keep quiet,” grumbled the former socialist president François Hollande, candidate in Corrèze (centre) on Sunday.
“The first emergency is to avoid the RN”, not to know who will go to Matignon, insisted Laurent Berger. The former union leader, 55, opposed to the highly contested pension reform adopted in 2023, has been cited as possible prime minister if the left wins.
Accused of being disconnected from the concerns of the French, the Macronist camp promises more collaborative governance. Mr. Macron said he ruled out any resignation, promising “to act until May 2027,” the end of his mandate, and admitting that “the way of governing [should] change profoundly.”
“The coming government, which will necessarily reflect your vote, will bring together, I hope, the republicans of various sensibilities who will have known how to […] oppose the extremes,” he pleaded in a letter to the French broadcast on Sunday in the press.
The majority is looking for a path between a unifying tone at the center and offensive remarks against the programs of its opponents.
“I fear for civil peace, the peace of French society” in the event of a victory for the RN, declared the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. He also castigated the NFP program and its significant tax increases, asserting that “everyone [would] be robbed by this project which, fundamentally, is a Marxist-inspired project.”
The outcome of the vote, between the specter of the first far-right government in the history of the country, and a National Assembly dominated by three irreconcilable poles for a minimum of a year, worries in France and abroad, on against the backdrop of a gloomy economic situation, war in Ukraine and Gaza, and one month before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Sunday in several cities in France against the “danger” for women’s rights that an RN victory would represent.
A collective of 170 diplomats and former diplomats published a petition in the daily Le Monde against a scenario which would “weaken France and Europe while the war is here”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “concerned” by this prospect, hoping for a victory for “parties which are not that of [Marine] Le Pen”.
