Jordan Bardella has promised to rebuild France’s credibility in Europe and beyond if Marine Le Pen wins the presidential election in 2027, while conceding that the task awaiting him as her prime minister would be enormous.
The National Rally president, who chairs the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, spoke on October 13 at a Nueva Economía Forum breakfast in Madrid. He was introduced by Vox leader Santiago Abascal, with whom he had travelled to Ceuta a day earlier.
Le Pen is standing for the presidency with Bardella as her candidate for prime minister, after the Paris Court of Appeal in July reduced the ban on holding office imposed on her over the misuse of European Parliament funds. The first round is due on April 18, 2027, with the run-off on May 2.
Bardella said France had lost its grandeur and was losing its security, its way of life and the balance of its public accounts. That decline, he argued, was eroding the country’s credibility among its European partners, among investors and among the French themselves.
The failure lay in political decisions rather than in France itself, he said, noting that some foreign observers now described the country as Europe’s weak link. A government he led would return to budget discipline, a business-friendly economic policy and what he called real stability.
France remained one of the large economies of the European Union and could change the direction of European policy, he said, which was why he wanted Paris to renegotiate on migration and on economic questions. He called for an end to Green Deal ideology and for a policy of economic patriotism, in line with the doctrine he has set out of staying inside the bloc while refusing some of its rules.
Europe had fallen behind but still had leading companies, researchers, engineers, skilled workers and a vast internal market, he said. What it lacked was the courage to break with the ideologies behind its decline.
Bardella also praised the economic ties between France and Spain and said production should be placed at the centre of politics. Both countries would matter in a Europe built on growth, national sovereignty and the security of the continent.
On migration, he said the Spanish Government’s mass regularisation had created a serious and irresponsible pull effect reaching every EU partner, because a foreigner given papers in Spain can then move through other member states. His party would propose reserving Schengen free movement for citizens of member states alone.
He said Europeans were gambling with their future in Ceuta unless they regained control of their borders, after visiting the city on October 12. Spain holds a general election on November 29.
