“It’s not possible to say that!”, indignant Robert Ménard

For Robert Ménard, the RN broke with its past, notably when Marine Le Pen excluded her father in 2015: “You like Marine Le Pen or not, but you cannot reproach her with that,” he says. he.

“It’s not possible to say that!”the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard was indignant on Monday February 19 on franceinfo, after Emmanuel Macron’s comments in the newspaper L’Humanité, who declared that he had not “never considered that the RN or Reconquest were part of the republican arc” and who believes that “the far-right forces would be inspired not to be present [à la cérémonie de panthéonisation de Missak Manouchian, ce mercredi]given the nature of Manouchian’s fight”a communist resistance fighter.

“How is the National Rally not in the Republican arc?”asks Robert Ménard. “Who went to demonstrate against anti-Semitism, was it the National Rally or La France insoumise?”, he continues, referring to the march organized after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. For him, the RN broke with its past, notably when Marine Le Pen excluded her father in 2015, this “which is not nothing!” “You like Marine Le Pen or not, but you cannot reproach her for that”he decides.

He returns the ball parallel to the left: “And communism doesn’t bother you? Every time you see a communist elected official, you’re not going to say: ‘Coco, you’re still responsible for 100 million deaths in the 20th century!’ Who does this? Nobody!”he insists.

A “pro-Russian tropism”

For the mayor of Béziers, wanting to exclude the RN from the Republican arc is the best way to raise the far right. “If the political class wants the National Rally to end at 45%, they should continue to treat people this way. It’s contemptuous of the voters”castigates Robert Ménard. “Because that would mean that voters are stupid enough to be fooled by the National Rally”who would not have really broken with his past, which is “fake”according to him.

However, he believes that on the question of Russia, “There, there is no break” with the historical position of the National Rally. He notably tackles Jordan Bardella’s tweet after the death of opponent Alexeï Navalny, considering himself rather in agreement with Eric Dupond-Moretti who criticized “crocodile tears” of the MEP president of the RN. Robert Ménard recalls that Jordan Bardella did not “never voted for European resolutions to defend Alexeï Navalny”. “There, he’s not lacking in stomach, Bardella”tackle Robert Menard. “There is a pro-Russian tropism” to the RN, he asserts, “a kind of fascination with a strong, authoritarian regime… They did it with Hungary, there they are doing it with Russia, there is a real problem.”