French far right vows to re-write EU treaties, fight ‘Vonderleyenism’

Jordan Bardella, the head of French far-right Rassemblement National’s list for the European elections, wants to re-write EU treaties and fight ‘Vonderleyism’, according to a statement given to journalists in Paris on Thursday.

In the presence of MEPs and party officials, including Marine Le Pen, the party leader set himself the challenge of “100 days to mobilise” and “100 days to win” the European elections scheduled for June, which “will be unlike any other”.

As “national as it is European”, this election will be an opportunity to prepare for the presidential elections in 2027, at the end of which, if the RN wins, it will propose “rewriting the European treaties”, Bardella said.

Bardella lashed out at EU Commission chief Von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron, saying his main objective is to fight “Vonderleyenism” and the advocates of a liberal Europe who lead Europe to “suicide”.

According to him, Europe is built on four pillars: the migration and asylum pact, the Green Deal, and the deepening and enlargement of the EU.

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Migration, ecology, sovereignty

On migration, Bardella accused von der Leyen of wanting to turn the EU into a “railway station” and, as a response, proposed treating the elections as a “referendum” on migration.

For him, the Green Deal is the standard-bearer of a “punitive ecology turned into a system”. At the end of January, Bardella called to “give up the Green deal”, which was followed by RN MEPs signing a resolution to “abolish” it.

As for EU enlargement, “when a structure doesn’t work with 27 members, why would you want 36?”. He also said Macron’s comments on sending troops to Ukraine were “deeply irresponsible” and “weaken the French position, playing into the hands of the Kremlin”.

On the issue of deepening Europe, Bardella said there are two camps: those who want a “centralised [European] unitary state, going beyond federalism”, like Mario Draghi, and those who defend, like the RN and other nationalist parties, a “Europe of Nations”.

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… no Frexit

“Europe of Nations” do not want to say Frexit, Bardella said, “precisely because you don’t leave the table when you’re winning the game”, he explained.

Nationalist parties are leading the polls for the European elections in a dozen EU countries, including France, Italy and Austria.

By proposing an “alternative model of cooperation” based on the new “Tricolore strategy”, Bardella wants to “change everything without destroying anything”, he said.

The “Tricolore strategy” divides the fields of action of member states and the EU into three areas.

In green, areas where action can be shared. In orange, areas where action can be shared are subject to conditions, such as issues related to the Schengen area. In the red are areas where action must be devolved solely to the member states, such as managing migration within national borders, the energy mix, diplomacy, and defence.

Unsurprisingly, the distribution of areas is completely different from the current EU structure, and its implementation would eventually require “rewriting the treaties”, Bardella said.

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EU elections are ‘mid-terms’

“The end result of the Tricolore strategy is to redefine the foundations of the European alliance of nations” and “to clarify our relationship with the European institutions”, Bardella added.

However, this would only be feasible if the RN were to win the presidential elections in 2027, with Bardella stating the upcoming EU vote is like a “mid-term”.

Therefore, Bardella could see himself “laying the foundations for a new negotiation” with the Commission and imposing his “red lines, and therefore starting to rewrite the current treaties” the day after the 2027 presidential elections if the RN wins.

French far-right vows EU blocking majority against ‘federalist coup d'état’

French far right National Rally (Rassemblement National) chief Jordan Bardella has vowed to work together with other anti-EU forces to create a blocking majority and essentially kill what he described as a “federalist coup d’état” pushed forward by Europhiles.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]