Jordan Bardella, president of the RN and head of the list for the European elections, announced Tuesday that his party would no longer sit alongside the AfD in the European Parliament.
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One gap too many. The National Rally ended its alliance with the German Alternative party für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD), Tuesday May 21, less than three weeks before the European elections. “I think that the AfD, with whom we have had the opportunity to work in the European Parliament for five years, crossed lines that I consider to be red lines”, declared on LCI the president of the RN and head of the list for the vote, Jordan Bardella. “Therefore, the National Rally (…) will no longer sit alongside the AfD [au Parlement européen]“.
This announcement follows comments made by MEP Maximilian Krah, head of the AfD list for the European elections, in an interview with La Repubblica and at Financial Times. “Can you really say that because someone was an officer in the Waffen-SS, they were a criminal? Individual guilt must be established.” he defends. His own party has now banned him from any campaign rallies.
The divorce is therefore confirmed, but tensions have been brewing for a long time. In January, the investigative media Correctiv revealed the content of a meeting that remained secret, organized two months earlier near Potsdam (Germany). Members of the AfD, alongside identity activists, entrepreneurs and lawyers, were developing the outlines of a “remigration” plan, i.e. expulsion mass of foreigners and “non-assimilated citizens” from Germany.
The project, xenophobic and racist, pushes more than 2 million people into the streets against the far right and forces the RN to distance itself from its ally. “I completely disagree with the proposal that would have been discussed or decided during this meeting”Marine Le Pen assured the press on January 25. “We have never defended any ‘remigration’, in the sense that French nationality would be withdrawn from people who have acquired it, including under conditions that we contest”, she insists.
During the following weeks, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella had lunch with the co-president of the AfD, Alice Weidel, and asked her for a written commitment guaranteeing that this plan would never become part of the party’s program, the RN deputy told France Inter. Thibaut François. Alice Weidel responds by letter, criticizing Correctiv’s investigation. In this letter, consulted by AFP, the figure of the German extreme right tries to temper the “remigration” project, in vain. “It appears to me that there are still a certain number of questions that remain unanswered,” comments Marine Le Pen at the end of February.
The rest of the campaign did not calm relations between the two allies. At the end of April, a new affair embarrassed the AfD: an assistant to MEP Maximilian Krah, Jian Guo, was suspected by the German federal prosecutor’s office of having transmitted “information on the negotiations and decisions of the European Parliament to its intelligence service client” Chinese. The MEP finds himself under preliminary investigations for suspicion of Russian and Chinese financing. Added to this is the recent conviction of Björn Höcke, one of the party’s figures, to pay a fine of 13,000 euros for having repeated a Nazi slogan in a meeting three years earlier.
By forming a separate group with the AfD, the National Rally hopes to protect itself from the excesses of an ally that has become incompatible with a demonized image. “On the French level, this shows to what extent the RN is keen to convey an image of clarification and government credibility”analyzes political scientist Bruno Cauvrai. According to him, this decision can be interpreted in light of the wishes of the far-right group.to make ‘no more mistakes'” in terms of communication with a view to the 2027 presidential election. “We can imagine the effect that being in the same group as people who are close to Nazi ideas could have, at the time of a presidential election.”
Before this break, the RN had strived to maintain vagueness about its future links with the AfD in the European Parliament. “It is clear that we have a number of differences and disagreements today, which have led us to have frank explanations with this political movement”assured Jordan Bardella, on France 3, at the end of April. “The question of alliances and allies that we will have [au Parlement européen] will depend on the forces present. As of today, nothing is excluded.”explained the president of the RN.
On Sunday, on the sidelines of a trip to Madrid to meet other far-right groups, Marine Le Pen still cast doubt on the collaboration between the two groups. “The AfD is not led. This poses a concern that we will have to discuss when we think about the future group”the leader declared to the press.
The absence of the AfD from the next RN group in the European Parliament pushes the French party to question its future allies in Strasbourg. “This opens up a game of musical chairs” at the European level, anticipates Bruno Cautres. Because the recomposition in sight after the European elections could also affect the other group of this political family, the European Conservatives and Reformists (CRE), which brings together hard-right nationalist parties.
The CRE group in fact includes the far-right party of the head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni, Fratelli d’Italia, which has long been criticized by the RN on the continental scene. “To vote for Marion Maréchal is to vote for the asylum and migration pact imposed by the EU of Ursula von der Leyen and supported by Giorgia Meloni”criticized the French party at the beginning of April, in reference to the CRE group’s support for the current president of the European Commission.
Between the Italian Prime Minister and the National Rally, things have been getting better in recent weeks. “There are points in common with Ms. Meloni”declared Marine Le Pen on Sunday from Madrid. “It’s not about individuals, it’s about freedom. [Giorgia] Meloni and [Matteo] Salvini care about freedom. There is no doubt that there is convergence between us regarding the freedom of people living in Europe.” However, deep disagreements remain between the RN and Fratelli d’Italia, while negotiations continue with the party’s other allies to try to have the strongest influence on the direction of the future European Parliament after June 9.