Members of the Reconquête! party of French far-right leader Éric Zemmour have joined the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament in a bid to strengthen the right-wing camp after the EU elections in June.
With this move – Reconquête! MEP Nicolas Bay as well as lead candidate Marion Maréchal formally joined the ECR club in Parliament – the party wants to boost its credentials in the French political arena, where it was so far considered an outsider. According to the latest polls, the party could get 5% of the French votes in June’s EU election, which would translate into an additional six seats for ECR.
“[We want] more weight given to the right-wing and conservatives so that tomorrow we influence both the presidency of the Commission and the political direction that will be pursued,” Maréchal told a press conference in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday (7 February).
Right coalition
Reconquête! has so far presented three official candidates for the EU elections, while projections award them six seats, including the lead candidate Maréchal.
Founded in 2022 by anti-immigration and anti-Islamic journalist and polemicist Éric Zemmour, the party has been asserting its ambition to create a “union of the right”, bringing together the centre-right EPP, the conservative-nationalist ECR and the far-right ID groups.
Maréchal repeatedly said she wishes to bring down the von der Leyen Commission, stressing that June’s EU elections are a chance to change the central axis of the Parliament.
Maréchal framed herself as a natural bridge between the different right-wing parties in the Parliament and denounced “the unnatural majority between the centre-right group, the EPP, allied with Emmanuel Macron’s Renew group, as well as the socialists, and even the greens.”
That majority is often referred to as a traditional ‘pro-European majority’ that has kept extremes on both sides at bay.
Should the ECR be successful in June’s elections, “a portion of the EPP might reconsider some of its alliances to align more closely with the conservative right and vote on texts collectively,” concluded Maréchal.
Far-right’s race for third place
ID is currently projected to be the third force in the European Parliament with 91 seats, followed by the liberal centrist Renew Europe in fourth place, and ECR following suit with 80, as Europe Elects’ projections for Euractiv reveal.
However, ECR may leapfrog ID, particularly if they are joined by Reconquête! and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz, as Orbán confirmed to the Italian press on 1 February, which would bring them another 12 MEPs. That would push Renew Europe to fifth place.
ECR’s expansion is likely to further strengthen Fratelli d’Italia – the party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The largest party within a political group usually holds key leadership positions, like the group presidency, and could get a vice-presidency of the European Parliament.
Reconquête!’s legitimation
Zemmour has built his popularity in France by creating polemics and distancing himself from Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in taking a much stronger stance on immigration and liberal economics. Zemmour has been found guilty of racism and racial hatred in court three times since 2020.
In 2022, he suggested ‘remigration’, or re-immigration, of people with double citizenship who are seen as a potential threat to national security.
Maréchal, Marine Le Pen’s niece, joined Zemmour’s Reconquête! and was chosen as the lead candidate for the EU election. Reconquête! is not yet affiliated with any European political party and has been longing for legitimisation to stand out on the French and European political stages.
[Max Griera contributed to the reporting]
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
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Source: euractiv.com
