Around Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, a small circle of advisors is trying to anticipate the arrival of the far-right party in power, by budgeting its program and imagining a timetable of measures to take.
“Is there any dizziness? Perhaps… But with each passing day, I prepare myself for the exercise of responsibilities.” The sequence, taken from an interview with Jordan Bardella on France 2, Tuesday June 18, was republished on the person’s TikTok account, not without adding a few piano notes. A way of responding to attacks from adversaries of the National Rally, on the unpreparedness of the far-right party, which has never governed before and which intends to win the early legislative elections to install Jordan Bardella in Matignon.
Favorite in the vote triggered by the dissolution of the National Assembly, the RN is also accused of unraveling its program with a view to its possible arrival in power. At party headquarters, advisors are working to rework the 2022 presidential project, keen to display the image of a serious movement well prepared to win over voters.
Sunday June 9 in the evening, shortly before the first results, the party headquarters learned with surprise that Emmanuel Macron was dissolving the National Assembly, as the RN kept demanding during the European campaign. “We didn’t expect it to happen so quickly, we thought he would call elections in September, and not a few days before the Olympics, which is a bit irresponsible”recognizes Philippe Olivier, MEP and advisor to Marine Le Pen. “As soon as we heard the president announce that he would sign the decree the next day, we quickly stopped celebrating this victory, and we went straight into campaigning”adds Renaud Labaye, secretary general of the RN group in the Assembly.
In the spring of 2023, during the motions of censure against the government of Elisabeth Borne, the management launched a “Matignon plan”. The objective: to have a list of 577 candidates, ready in the event of dissolution. “Some people were still a little ironic, even internally, about Philippe Olivier’s delirium”, remembers an executive. For months, the RN headquarters had asked the federations to bring up interesting profiles, to organize auditions, to “skim” the candidates. This anticipated process allowed executives to concentrate on the program, but it did not avoid some hiccups: the RN had to withdraw its support for a candidate accused of anti-Semitism and homophobia in Meurthe-et-Moselle, while that a substitute in Loiret is the subject of a complaint for sexist and anti-Semitic remarks.
In parallel with the legislative blitz, Marine Le Pen’s troops are busy building their project in the event of cohabitation, before a press conference scheduled for Monday June 24 in Paris. The party must in fact adapt its presidential program to the scenario of cohabitation, even if it means delaying certain key measures, such as the end of VAT on a basket of 100 food or hygiene products: this will be for the vote on the 2025 budget, debated at autumn. Before voting for such a measure, the RN wants to launch an audit of the public accounts, while the deficit has slipped at the end March, at 5.5% of GDP.
If the argument is intended to be a guarantee of budgetary seriousness, it also allows to justify the spread over time of their measurements. Jordan Bardella promises that once at Matignon, he will first deal with “the emergencies”. The time for reforms would come in the fall, which makes it possible to postpone the thorny question of pensions, a point of disagreement between the RN and its ally Eric Ciotti. Other proposals, such as the removal of income tax for those under 30, are no longer mentioned, at the risk of disappointing some RN voters. Enough to silence attacks on the RN’s lack of economic seriousness? Medef sharply criticized its program and the Institut Montaigne, a liberal think tank, estimated that it would increase the public deficit by around 100 billion euros per year.
Having passed through Bercy, Renaud Labaye studies the costing of the program and looks for ways to save money, because “it is out of the question that we present a deficit amending finance law, if we are in charge of the government”. With the employees of the RN group in the Assembly, this graduate of HEC and Saint-Cyr tracks down tax loopholes, and proposes eliminating that of shipowners, which he estimates at 1.2 billion euros for 2024.
It is also Renaud Labaye who is leading the drafting of the legal texts necessary for the emergency measures, those that Jordan Bardella promises to launch upon his arrival at Matignon: the reduction in VAT on energy, the “fight against immigration” and the “strengthening security and justice”, through the reestablishment of minimum penalties and the offense of illegal residence. Other promises will have to wait, such as the ban on wearing the veil in public spaces. A bill, drafted by former magistrate Jean-Paul Garraud, has been in the drawers since 2021. But the measure, which raises constitutional questions, will wait until 2027 and a possible presidential victory by Marine Le Pen, said Jordan Bardella in an interview with Parisian.
“Our program was planned to be implemented over five years with Marine Le Pen at the Elysée, not in three years and during a period of cohabitation.”
Renaud Labaye, general secretary of the RN group at the Assemblyat franceinfo
His team, he says, also compiles the fruits of the work of RN deputies over two years at the Palais Bourbon, in particular the 14 legislative proposals presented during their two parliamentary niches (none of which was adopted), in order to have legislative texts “ready to use”.
In addition to these financial questions, certain points remain unanswered. On the referendum on immigration, necessary to enshrine the national priority in the Constitution, another flagship promise of the RN, there was an internal debate on the possibility or not of organizing it in the event of cohabitation. “It cannot be implemented until we have the presidency of the Republic”, ultimately believes Renaud Labaye. Jordan Bardella therefore clarified on Sunday Sunday newspaper (JDD) that this consultation would not be triggered before a possible victory for Marine Le Pen in the 2027 presidential election.
To advise her on the aspect institutional, constitutional and European, Marine Le Pen commissioned Jérôme Turot. Enarque, valedictorian of the Voltaire promotion (the same as François Hollande), former State Councilor and now tax lawyer, the man has been advising the candidate for around ten years. His CV proves valuable, because he also worked in the office of Albin Chalandon, Keeper of the Seals during the first cohabitation in 1986. Responsible for flooring on the room for maneuver of an RN Prime Minister in the event of cohabitation, cIt was he who suggested to Jordan Bardella to warn that he would refuse Matignon if his party did not have an absolute majority in the Assembly.
Jérôme Turot is also working on the legal levers allowing the establishment of “double border” or to limit family reunification, campaign promises which clash with European treaties, but could nevertheless come true according to him. “The Bardella government could do a lot of things, thanks to regulatory and legislative power, and the principle of subsidiarity enshrined in the European treaties”he assures. Because the RN executives want to avoid “trap” of a cohabitation which would make them the “collaborators” by Emmanuel Macron, with a Prime Minister hampered or eclipsed by the President of the Republic.
“I am for combative cohabitation. We have two fights to prepare: that of the legislative elections, and then that with the president.”
Philippe Olivier, MEP and advisor to Marine Le Penat franceinfo
Jordan Bardella having been presented since the fall of 2023 as Marine Le Pen’s choice for Matignon in the event of victory in 2027, there is no need to procrastinate on the choice of a future Prime Minister in the event of victory on July 7.
There remains the delicate question of the composition of the government, which Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen wish to open to figures outside the party. “We are not denying ourselves anything in terms of nomination”, promises Philippe Olivier. A way of advocating “national union” or to compensate for the lack of internal profiles? If Eric Ciotti has apparently won his ticket for a ministerial appointment by allying with the RN, the rest of the casting is discussed very confidentially, in a very small circle, or even only between the Le Pen-Bardella tandem. . The two leaders of the far-right party also meet “discreetly” ministerial potential.
“I have my government in mind”assures Jordan Bardella JDD. But no one risks revealing names, arguing that space must be left for future rallies. “A certain number of colleagues, considered to be ministers, ask me questions about my experience, and how we recruit our ministerial cabinet”, confides Thierry Mariani, the only member of the party to have been minister and secretary of state. As for ministerial cabinets, they will be easy to compose, ensure all the executives interviewed by franceinfo, who say they have received numerous CVs since the dissolution, and who do not anticipate any major wave of withdrawals in the administration.
Jean-Paul Garraud, of whom Marine Le Pen said in 2022 that he would be her Minister of Justice, could also enter the government, even if he assures that “no one is pre-designated at this stage”. The magistrate joined the RN in 2019 and was elected a European deputy. He is also part of the small circle which advises Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, alongside Philippe Olivier, Renaud Labaye and Jean-Philippe Tanguy, outgoing deputy for the Somme and ex-defector from Nicolas Dupont-Aignan’s party.
Jean-Paul Garraud is also a member of the Horaces, the other linchpin in the preparation of the RN for power. This group of experts created before the 2017 presidential election now has around sixty members, mostly men, responsible for advising Marine Le Pen. Diplomats, prefects, business leaders and other experts meet once a week, by video or in Paris, and phosphorus in a loop that crackles more since the dissolution. “Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen are in the conversation, she regularly asks us about specific subjects or current events”explains Jean-Paul Garraud.
“We are a toolbox. Then it does what it wants with our contributions.”
Jean-Paul Garraud, MEP of the National Rallyat franceinfo
The Horaces are also no strangers to the turning point initiated by the far-right party in the summer of 2017, after the defeat in the presidential election and the painful debate between the two rounds. For Philippe Olivier, this moment was founding for the credibility of the party: “We decided that we wanted to become a government party and we chose to stop things we didn’t understand, like leaving Europe or the euro. And we changed our name.” In 2018, the National Front was renamed the National Rally. If he judges today that the strategy has paid off, the advisor remains cautious. “On works on all hypotheses, including that of a majority relative”he explains, before laughing. “It would actually be the simplest: we would watch Mr. Macron deal with his institutional chaos, he who transformed the Fifth Republic into the Fourth!” This scenario would also leave the party three more years to continue its preparation.