De-demonization, finances, renewal… What challenges for the president of the RN?

At 27, he is the new president of the National Rally. Jordan Bardella was overwhelmingly elected (84.84%) against Louis Aliot at the party congress in Paris last Saturday. “The accession to power of our ideas is a necessity for the country today. We are the first political force in opposition to Emmanuel Macron”, judged the successor of Marine Le Pen, this Monday on RTL. However, his mandate began against a backdrop of controversy in the National Assembly and internal discontent. 20 minutes looks back at the challenges awaiting the new boss of the RN.

Continue the demonization

“I owe everything to Marine Le Pen”. During his speech to congress on Saturday, Jordan Bardella paid a very strong tribute to the former presidential candidate. Not surprising to see the MEP claiming the strategy of “de-demonization”, undertaken by Marine Le Pen, at the head of the movement since 2011. “Marine Le Pen’s line is Jordan who embodies it best. During his interim presidency, he led our successful legislative campaign. We will continue our evolution with him, our transformation to win in 2027”, assures Gilles Pennelle, general manager of the movement.

But the past few days have shown that “normalization” remains a daunting challenge for the flame party. On Friday, an RN deputy was expelled from the National Assembly, after remarks deemed “racist” by all the other groups. Saturday, new controversy in the middle of the congress: Steve Briois, mayor of Hénin-Beaumont, accused the new RN president of carrying out a “purge” within the movement after his exclusion from the new executive body. This close friend of Marine Le Pen denounced a “risk of re-radicalization” of the party, and said his fear of seeing again “disembark madmen obsessed with identity” with the seizure of power by Bardella.

Raising a new generation

During the internal campaign, Jordan Bardella promised to bring out a new generation of political leaders within the RN, with in particular the creation of a “school of executives”, led by political scientist Jérôme Sainte-Marie. The new boss of the party will also hold a press conference this Wednesday to present the new authorities and the organization of the movement. “His mission will be to structure the party and its establishment in the territory, to prepare the RN of tomorrow with this desire to bring up new figures”, specifies Gilles Pennelle.

“Bardella’s victory carries a symbolic charge. That of the advent of the Marine generation, younger and often without real territorial anchoring, and which would perhaps not have joined Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front”, assures Jean-Yves Camus, political scientist specializing in ‘far right. At the RN congress this Saturday, several activists also considered their new boss capable of bringing together more widely. “It is a symbol for many young people. It can help to further broaden our electoral base, bring in people from LR, who are still reluctant to join us, ”said David Tréca, yet a supporter of Louis Aliot and from Côte-d’Or.

Clean up party finances

Among the young guard propelled to the executive office, the decision-making center of the party, is the deputy of Moselle Kévin Pfeffer, also national treasurer of the movement. A key position when the party’s finances, weighed down by a Russian loan, have been in the red for several years. The cleaning up of the accounts is therefore a crucial issue for Jordan Bardella, boss of a party in debt to the tune of 22 million euros. “We are going to receive significant endowments with our good results in the presidential and legislative elections”, defends the mayor of Beaucaire and vice-president of the RN, Julien Sanchez.

Entering the National Assembly in force last June with 89 deputies, the party should receive more than ten million euros per year, double what it received before. But the public money should not be paid until next summer. To fill the hole by then, the movement launched last September for the second time a “big national loan” with its members, hoping to raise three million euros.