Faltering French right-wing party slams Macron and Le Pen ahead of EU elections

France’s right-wing Les Républicains (EPP) party took aim at President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance (Renew) and Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (ID) at the launch of the party’s EU election campaign in Aubervilliers Saturday.

The rally, which drew 3,500 members, was attended by party leader Éric Ciotti, Senate President Gérard Larcher and potential presidential candidates Laurent Wauquiez and Xavier Bertrand. Lead candidate for the party, François-Xavier Bellamy, also held a speech.

“At the European Parliament, [Renaissance] engages in left-wing politics, while [Rassemblement National] pursues empty chairs politics. It’s the same system and the same confusion,” Bellamy said on Saturday, noting that “the ‘Macronist’ delegation voted at 90% in line with socialists”.

Ciotti called Macron a “man worth a thousand billion euros in debt,” while Bellamy condemned him for his economic policies, accusing France of being “the world champion of taxes.”

At the same time, Bellamy lambasted the Rassemblement National for its “TikTok policies”.

However, while the Rassemblement National list led by Jordan Bardella and Macron’s Renaissance list led by Valérie Hayer is polling at around 30% and 18%, respectively, Les Républicains is now polling at 7%, according to the latest polls.

This reflects the party’s steady decline from 21% in the 2014 EU elections to 8% in 2019. In the most recent 2022 presidential elections, the party received only 4.78%, which would fall short of the threshold needed to win any seats in the EU Parliament if elections were held today.

Eager to use his delegation’s record in the European Parliament as an election argument and a demonstration of his party’s seriousness, Bellamy portrayed himself as opposed to the politics of spectacle.

“I’m told, at the beginning of this campaign, you should be less serious to make an impact… Making an impact is an influencer’s ambition. Politics happens in the real world, not on TikTok or Instagram!” he said.

In a further attempt to show their seriousness, Les Républicains announced the name of the third name on their list, former general Christophe Gomart, who also attended the rally.

Gomart’s nomination is an attempt to balance the nomination of Fabrice Leggeri, the former head of Frontex, who joined the National Rally list as the third candidate. Gomart’s experience is also seen as a challenge to Macron’s position on the war in Ukraine.

“One does not become a war chief overnight with boxing gangs,” said Ciotti, referring to photos published by the official photographer of the French Presidency, Soazig de La Moissonière.

“War is not about seeking buzz on TikTok or Instagram. War is about blood and tears.”

Farmer and second candidate on the list, Céline Imart, stated that Macron was “the specialist of big smoke screens”.

Les Républicains chose not to support the nomination of Ursula von der Leyen as the “Spitzenkandidat” of the European People’s Party (EPP) earlier this month and sent no senior leader to the party congress in Bucharest on 6 and 7 March.

(Théophane Hartmann | Euractiv.fr)