Marion Maréchal, niece of National Rally de facto leader Marine Le Pen and a member of France’s Reconquête, says her party had been excluded from the alliance of the Right ahead of the country’s general elections on June 30.
“Jordan Bardella [RN President] informed me this afternoon of a change of position and the refusal of the RN of the very principle of an agreement,” she said on June 11.
According to Maréchal, RN wanted no “direct or indirect association with [Reconquête leader] Éric Zemmour”.
“This sudden and contradictory decision [after] our numerous exchanges and preparatory work does not live up to … the expectations of the French,” she added.
Eric Ciotti, President of the French centre-right party The Republicans, has been called on to resign after agreeing to an electoral alliance with the hard-right National Rally (RN) for the June 30 French legislative elections. https://t.co/1vOm0ZqlEP
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 11, 2024
Maréchal had previously hinted at an agreement between the two parties.
Supported by the Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, leader of the sovereignist and Eurosceptic party Debout la France, and Vice-President of Reconquête, Guillaume Peltier, Maréchal had previously been in discussions with the RN for 48 hours.
She met Le Pen and Bardella on June 10. “Nothing has been confirmed; at the moment, these are just discussions,” said Bardella following the meeting.
Early on June 11, Maréchal stated: “Faced with [French President Emmanuel] Macron’s coalition and that of the far-left, the national camp can no longer afford to be divided. At Reconquête, we have always advocated for unity. It is no longer time to talk but to act.”
As of writing, the RN had not commented on Maréchal’s statements regarding the end of discussions between the two parties.
Bardella is set to talk on French national television on the evening of June 11.
President of France’s National Rally (RN) party, Jordan Bardella, says his political movement will support candidates from the centre-right Republican party in the June 30 elections as part of what could become a formal electoral alliance. https://t.co/679d4usnZu
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 11, 2024
