At the head of the Patriots, the third largest group numerically in the European Parliament and now a member of the prestigious Foreign Affairs Committee, Jordan Bardella intends to continue his “normalization” strategy in Strasbourg. A strategy compromised, however, by the “sanitary cordon” of pro-European parties against the far-right and by certain embarrassing personalities within its camp.
What if the French Presidential election of 2027 was being prepared in the European Parliament? This is perhaps what Jordan Bardella, president of the RN, said to himself the day after his failure in the legislative elections. Here he is now a member of the prestigious Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, he who was until now in the Petitions Committee, far from being the most prolific, where one generally only registers on a secondary basis. . In foreign affairs, he will sit alongside Raphael Glucksmann, Bernard Guetta, Nathalie Loiseau, Marion Maréchal and Rima Hassan. “It’s a commission that will gain momentum,” explains Paul Messad, in charge of the far-right for the specialized site Euractiv.fr, “given the geopolitical context, international issues will gain importance in the European Parliament. It also allows us to give ourselves a position in France, to legitimize ourselves on major issues which are generally the domain of the head of state.»
To improve his posture, Jordan Bardella also agreed to take the lead of Patriots for Europe, a far-right group thought up by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. With 84 members and 12 nationalities it is the third largest numerically behind the EPP (the conservative right) and the S&D (the social democrats). In this group we obviously find the RN which brings the largest contingent but also the Spanish from Vox, the Italians from the League or the Hungarian Fidesz. As group president Jordan Bardella will participate in the conference of presidents of Parliament which has control over political decisions and the organization of parliamentary work. On paper, the standardization strategy launched by the RN in France also seems to work at the European level.
Bardella caught in the meshes of the “sanitary cordon”
But the problem for Jordan Bardella is that he is the only one in his group to occupy a prestigious position of president, all the others have failed, coming up against the “sanitary cordon against the extreme right”. A cordon, which has existed since the 1980s: the pro-European political parties agree not to entrust any positions of responsibility to the far right. A position which was verified once again this year: Fabrice Leggeri, RN MEP and former boss of Frontex, failed to become Vice-President of Parliament, as for Malika Sorel, second on Jordan Bardella’s list, she did not failed to get elected president of the culture committee, despite the numerical weight of her group. “The far right has strengthened itself in Parliament, underlines Paul Messad, but so has the EPP, the classic right. The old centrist coalition is still functioning and if it needs to be broadened, they will rather look to the reformist Conservatives of Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister, than to Jordan Bardella or Marine Le Pen.» The Patriotes therefore remain behind the cordon.
Embarrassing friends
Other thorns in Jordan Bardella’s side to normalize: his allies. Starting with his vice-president of the Patriots, the Italian Roberto Vannacci. An openly racist, homophobic and pro-Mussolini former general. After discovering his CV late in life, the boss of the RN would work behind the scenes to disconnect this annoying number 2 proposed by his League ally Matteo Salvini.
Another troublesome ally: Viktor Orbán. By sitting on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Jordan Bardella intends to normalize the RN’s position on the Ukrainian issue. “Without supporting Ukraine, he can say and he has already done so, that Russia is a threat to Europe,” explains Paul Messad.» But how can we defend this position even though Orbán, a historic ally of the RN, returns from a trip to see Vladimir Putin at the beginning of July. “There is a problem of double-talk between what the RN is doing in Paris, what it wants to do in Strasbourg and Brussels and the position of its pro-Russian allies,” emphasizes Paul Messad, “but at the same time, it is difficult for Marine Le Pen to deny 15 years of diplomacy with Orbán. And then she doesn’t get along with Giorgia Meloni, so she only has Orbán left as an ally. She and Jordan Bardella can nevertheless get away with saying that diplomacy is part of the sovereignty of every country and that they have no business meddling in Orbán’s affairs on this subject.» A way out before the next disappointment?
This article is originally published on publicsenat.fr
