Jordan Bardella, 28- year- ancient far- proper National Rally ( Nurse ) leader, along with Marine Le Pen, is competing for victory in France‘s lock parliamentary election on June 30 and July 7.
Following a crushing defeat in the most current Western elections, President Emmanuel Macron called the vote.
The RN has the best chance of capturing the most votes, according to surveys. But, in his lightning- rate campaign, he is pushing for more — a legislative majority to govern separately without a coalition.
He has promised to “restore belief in France and its glory”. The RN’s statement, unveiled on Monday, lays out his strategy.
The main goals are promoting purchasing power by lowering energy taxes, increasing school power, and reducing illegal migration.
He has also vowed to keep his party’s support for Ukraine despite his opposition to the use of long-range weapons in order to convince citizens.
Macron’s most cautious choice so far is his snap election, which could cause an uneasy” cohabitation” period with a democratic leader focusing on foreign affairs and a hard-right prime minister overseeing domestic politics.
If no group wins a majority, the vote was shop the legislature in chaos.
Bardella, who has presented himself as the “only solution” to seven times of anger with Macron’s authority, is seizing this chance to manage.
” In three words: We are ready”, he told supporters this year.
Meteoric rise to power
Bardella claims he has firsthand knowledge of the chaos that unregulated immigration has caused in France because he has grown up in the Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis.
Many European citizens with African ancestry live in the working-class neighborhoods around Paris that have been demonized by the right-wing.
He said at a protest in 2022,” I have seen these lost sections of the French Republic become wars of Islamism.” ” I have felt, like you and like thousands of French residents, the discomfort of becoming a tourist in your own state”.
Born to Roman parents, Bardella described Saint-Denis as the “only institution in Saint-Denis where a teacher was not at risk of having a head thrown at their head” in an appointment with European regular Le Monde. He also attended a semi-private Catholic school.
His mother, who was Algerian and owned a coffee supply company, left the family when Bardella was a kid.
After three weeks of persuading his mother to let him join Le Pen’s group, Bardella joined the organization in 2012, according to blogger Pierre-Stephane Fort’s history.
Before resuming his studies, he quickly took a geography undergraduate course to concentrate on his political career.
In 2014, he became the group member for Seine- Saint- Denis. After Buttey officially declared his conversion to Islam, he gained popularity by suspending his party friend and former colleague Maxence Buttey.
Eventually, Bardella and Kerridwen Chatillon, the girl of Frederic Chatillon, a friend and confidante of Le Pen, who introduced him to the party leader, started a loving relationship.
He was appointed group director at the age of 21 and became Le Pen’s protégé.
In 2019, Le Pen put him in charge of heading the group’s list in the German elections, which the RN won, securing a parliamentary seats for Eurosceptics in Brussels.
Bardella’s meteoric rise continued in 2022 when he was named RN leader by Le Pen, restraining her efforts to win the following 2027 presidential vote.
Following his election, he declared that once the mob of people traffickers will be in charge, “immigrant ships will not be allowed to port in European ports.” ” Our government’s asking is not to be the world’s hotel”.
Mild way, difficult opinions
The poised, cultural- media- experienced candidate has since led the group’s rebrand, breaking away from the racist gaffes and anti- Jewish tones of the party’s predecessor, the National Front. This approach aims to draw in more favorable attention from the moderate electorate.
With his light demeanor and clean-shaved appearance, Bardella has tried to reassure French voters.
” We are credible, responsible and respect French institutions”, he said as he laid out his manifesto.
Le Pen, 55, and her father are traditionally unsympathetic, but he is getting support by using social media to connect with young people. Jean-Marie, the movement’s founder in the 1970s, has been found guilty of hate speech and has made some controversial racist remarks, including referring to Nazi gas chambers as” a detail of history.”
” Bardella is part of the party’s normalisation strategy”, Sebastien Maillard, associate fellow at Chatham House, told Al Jazeera. His name is not Le Pen; he never entered a controversy and was always very cautious when he said something.
However, the far-right core views that were repackaged remain intact.
” It is time to free the topic of immigration from social cliches”, Bardella said. ” The problem of the far left is the abolition of frontiers, which leaves our country unarmed. This will cause our social services to be overburdened, and our French identity to decline.
The RN intends to expel foreigners who commit crimes, abolish the right to nationality for people who have resided on French soil for at least five years, reduce the welfare budget by limiting social spending to French citizens, and forbid dual nationals from” sensitive” positions in defense and security.
It does not go into more detail about the plan, but it does say it will introduce a law “against Islamist ideologies.”
A call for the French
Despite experts ‘ warning that a decision to end birthright citizenship would likely require constitutional changes, possibly through a referendum, Bardella has also stated his intention to do so.
He has promised an overhaul of the education system to restore” state authority” in schools. This includes tougher sanctions for misbehavior, as well as steps to relocate disruptive students or bullies from newly established special centers or to new ones that have been created. He wants to ban cell phones in classrooms and reinstate the practice of “vous” (young ) when speaking to teachers.
In terms of the economy, he pledged to address the crisis involving the cost of living and lower energy taxes to aid in making ends meet. He did not specify where he would go to find the funds to help with the relocation.
Instead of focusing on immigration and dissatisfaction with Macron, the party has taken a different, more controversial stance, such as leaving the Nato Atlantic alliance and Frexit, which it claims was a French exit from the European Union.
This “tie strategy”, Maillard said, referring to the attempt to look presentable in parliament, has earned RN new voters.
Maillard claims that Macron’s call for a snap election was intended to press RNs to come up with a clear plan rather than relying solely on dissatisfaction with the government.
” Macron wants RNs to prove if they really are ready]to govern ]”, the analyst said.
” And it’s also a call for the French to answer the question: Do you really want this”?
