A right-wing French coalition led by National Rally’s Marine Le Pen is now a distinct possibility, MEP Marion Maréchal has said.
During an interview on CNews on October 8, the senior politician — who, along with a number of her colleagues, broke away from Eric Zemmour’s Reconquest party earlier this year — expressed optimism that her newly formed Identity-Liberty party could be a part of this possible alliance.
She pointed out that although Marine Le Pen had previously rejected the idea, the political landscape has shifted.
“This coalition logic has now taken hold, with the National Rally choosing to collaborate with Éric Ciotti’s party,” Maréchal said, referring to the agreement between Marine Le Pen and Eric Ciotti, now head of right-wing Groupe UDR, during the French legislative elections.
“There was a before and after to the early legislative election. It brought a glimmer of hope, signalling the beginnings of a coalition between the National Rally and Éric Ciotti, who crossed the cordon sanitaire,” Maréchal explained.
To further promote this coalition, Maréchal launched Identity-Liberty on October 7, with the parliamentarian saying that the party is “another building block” in the creation of a broader right-wing alliance in France.
Speaking to Brussels Signal, another member of the new party, Nicolas Bay MEP, described the party as representing a “sensibility that hasn’t been represented in [France] for a long time”, drawing comparison to other parties in the European Conservatives and Reformists group.
“Opposition to Brussels’ federalist headlong rush, the fight for freedoms in the face of crushing bureaucracy, taxation and censorship, the defence of our French identity and European civilization in the face of massive immigration and its consequences will be our priorities,” he said.
“This is all within a right-wing electoral coalition that we want to accompany to win and defeat Islamo-leftism, following what we’ve seen in countries like Italy and Sweden.”
Recognising the political strength of the National Rally, Marion Maréchal believes her aunt Marine Le Pen should lead the right-wing alliance.
“If there were to be a union of the Right, it would be under her leadership,” she stated.
“The French people have made their choice. The National Rally is now the leading party in France and Marine Le Pen is the most legitimate candidate to represent the national camp in the presidential election,” she added.
According to Ifop’s latest poll, Marine Le Pen is in first place, with first-round voting intentions for the RN figurehead hovering in the region of 35 per cent.
“Benefiting from a catch-all electorate, Marine Le Pen appears to be the political figure that the French would most like to see as president of the republic after Emmanuel Macron,” the pollsters wrote.
When asked about the internal politics of the coalition, Maréchal downplayed internal disagreements within France’s Right, asserting that the larger goal should be a coalition focused on “identitarian, liberal, conservative, and civilizational rights” values.
According to Maréchal, this is the only path to victory.
“If we want to win, we need to come together. The Left has been showing us how,” she concluded referring to the fact that the left-wing coalition’s New Popular Front —which allowed them to come on top in France legislative elections.
