from Jean-Marie to Marine Le Pen, what break between the RN and the FN?

Marine Le Pen says she has moved away from the legacy of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. But is there a real break between the National Rally and the National Front of 40 years ago? By taking the lead of the party, Marine Le Pen began a phase of demonization, avoiding controversial remarks. “It’s changing the way the French see the FN. It’s not about changing the FN itself, but rather the way the French look at the FN”explains Gilles Ivaldi, researcher at the CNRS and specialist in the extreme right.

On the economy, Marine Le Pen has distanced herself from her father: exit liberalism, the RN candidate is advancing more social measures. The fundamentals, such as the end of family reunification, the systematic expulsion of illegal delinquents and foreign criminals or even the rehabilitation of the death penalty, remain however the same. Jean-Marie Le Pen has always been in favor of it, as has his daughter, who wishes to submit the question to a referendum…until a few days ago. The referendum is moreover “a central element of the FN (…) since the origins”, notes Gilles Ivaldi. If the change has indeed taken place in form, the measures proposed by the National Rally correspond well to the ideological base of the historic party of Jean-Marie Le Pen.