how the National Rally capitalized on the agricultural crisis

The far-right party has stood by farmers who have expressed their anger over the past two weeks.

The anger of the farmers calms down and the roadblocks are lifted on Friday February 2, after the government’s latest announcements. The new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has put aside his first political crisis, momentarily at least. But the agricultural crisis has given food for thought to political opposition, in particular the National Rally where it is considered to have won an ideological victory. “At the edge of the abyss they take our measures again, after having insulted us”: It is the message posted by Jordan Bardellathe president of the National Rally, on X Thursday February 1st.

Reductions on GNR (non-road diesel), curbs on free trade treaties, flexibility on pesticides: the government’s announcements are in line with what the RN has been advocating for years. These measures also echo the arguments that will be deployed by the party between now and the European elections. We must put an end to so-called ecology “punitive” and defend a “French agricultural exception”as the head of the RN list repeats.

Jordan Bardella quickly showed up on a farm on January 20. His brand new boots had also been mocked by Macronie. He then appeared three days later alongside fishermen whom he encouraged to join the angry movement. The 88 RN deputies were instructed to go to roadblocks in the four corners of France. And when we accuse them of wanting to recover, elected officials get annoyed: “We are almost all elected in rural areas, we know the problems of farmers”says a deputy.

The RN defends itself from association with the Rural Confederation

The National Rally seemed to get along particularly well with one of the unions driving the protest, the Rural Coordination. “No, we are not in cahoots”, assures an elected official. There are no structural links or privileged relationships with the leaders of this union, the RN is told. The party claims to speak with all the unions, but it believes that the FNSEA implicitly supported Emmanuel Macron against Marine Le Pen during the last presidential election.

But several elected officials admit it: “We are much more in tune with the analysis and positions of Rural Coordination”. “These are people breaking with the corrupt system of the European Union”, deciphers an RN MEP, who confesses to having already invited representatives of this union to Brussels for a meeting with other European peasant movements. From there to offering a place to an angry farmer on the future RN list for the Europeans? It is an idea pushed by several members of the party, but not yet finalized.

The National Rally believes in any case that the agricultural subject will quickly return and that the crisis is far from being over. “All the ingredients for a major social explosion are there”Marine Le Pen recently prophesied.