France’s economic and political elite resigns itself to the possible coming to power of the extreme right

The possibility that France will be governed by the extreme right has ceased to be a future variable and has become an immediate probability. The surprising dissolution by the French president, the centrist Emmanuel Macron, of the National Assembly after the victory in the European elections of June 9 of the National Regroupment (RN), has put this ultra formation at the doors of Matignon, the headquarters of the Prime Minister. An eventuality that, despite the vertigo that it still causes in many, some of the country’s main political and economic leaders not only accept it, but also try to adapt to it, even if it is by holding their nose.

“For a few days now, many senior officials, diplomats and company heads have been in contact with us, because the prospect of us achieving power is possible,” boasted the RN candidate for prime minister, Jordan, in one of his first interviews. Bardella, as soon as he began, on Monday, the dazzling campaign for the legislative elections of June 30 and July 7.

And they’re not just calls. Not so long ago, most of the political and economic elites were very careful about appearing in a photo with the National Regrouping. They talked, they talked, because at the end of the day the French far-right party has been in the political machine for decades and its leader, Marine Le Pen, has managed to reach the second round in the last two presidential elections, supported by millions of votes. But it was done in restaurant booths, in discreet places, away from curious eyes. Those times are beginning to be left behind. The possibility that the anti-immigration, anti-Muslim and Eurosceptic party will come to power after the elections is high. And although there are still no great poses, suddenly Bardella can be seen everywhere. And few shy away from it.

“People are no longer hiding,” Jean-Christophe Courné-Noléo, president of a real estate conglomerate, tells this newspaper. “Nowadays, there are business leaders who organize dinners to introduce people to people.” Courné-Noléo, who assures that he has not accepted these invitations, did attend the meeting held this Thursday in Paris by the French employers’ association, Medef, to listen to the economic proposals of all the parties and alliances in contention in the legislative elections. Bardella was there, as a star guest.

Aware of the misgivings that the extreme right continues to arouse in some of the main decision-making centers in France, Bardella is betting, despite the decisiveness of the electoral campaign, on putting aside the regional rallies. He has preferred to stay in Paris, the true center of France’s power. And from there, a bastion that still resists the RN, launch an offensive to seduce the power elites.

If this Thursday it was the businessmen’s turn, a day before it was the powerful military industry. For two intense hours, the candidate for prime minister walked through the French pavilion at Eurosatory, one of the main world arms fairs. Accompanied by senior industrial representatives, he explained, in all kinds of detail, different models of helicopters, drones or tanks. Of course, only in the French pavilion and only the teams made in France. Bardella has not spoken publicly about other more political meetings.

Because despite some timid openings, mistrust, and even fear, persist. Especially on the economic side. His program will involve enormous public spending at a time when Brussels has just given France a sharp slap on the wrist for its ballooning deficit. If applause is a barometer of the enthusiasm aroused by a political leader, at the big meeting of the French employers’ association in Paris this Thursday it was clear that Bardella continues to generate a more than lukewarm response among most of the French business community.

It is true, however, that none of the other guests elicited much louder applause. Especially the representatives of the leftist alliance New Popular Front. “The RN and the New Popular Front are dangerous for the economy,” he declared to the newspaper. The Figaro the president of Medef, Patrick Martin.

Since they began to roll out their economic programs, the Medef employers’ association has warned that it does not like the RN program at all, which proposes an immediate reduction in VAT on energy and fuels and, later, on essential products. At the same time, he remains somewhat confused about his promise to lower the retirement age again. The employers are concerned about the “rupture” with the EU, which they understand would entail many of his proposals. He also does not like, even less in some parts, the program of the New Popular Front. Above all, the left’s promise to increase the minimum wage to 1,600 euros and index salaries to inflation, in addition to the repeal of Macron’s pension reform.

At the meeting, both sought to clear up doubts among representatives of the country’s business and industrial fabric. Through his words, but also with the image. Two heavyweights came from the left, not only from their parties, but with a strong economic resume. One is Éric Cocquerel, a trusted man of the leader of La Francia Insumisa (the radical left formation that most worries the business world), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and also president of the finance commission of the recently dissolved National Assembly. The other is the socialist Boris Vallaud, trained in the elite French schools and worked in the cabinet of the socialist Minister of Economy Arnaud Montebourg during the presidency of François Hollande.

Vallaud assumed the weight of the presentation, during which he stressed that the only governments that have managed to reduce the deficit in France have been those of the socialists Lionel Jospin and Hollande. He explained that the left bloc seeks a “Keynesian relaunch” of the economy based on a “massive wage reactivation, as in Spain.” And he called on billionaires to demonstrate “economic patriotism” by accepting taxes on their large incomes.

Bardella chose the business forum to make his first public appearance alongside the great ally achieved for these unpredictable elections, Éric Ciotti, the still president of Los Republicanos despite the conservative party’s attempts to expel him after unilaterally announcing his alliance with the RN, which did not It is shared by the majority of the formation of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. His presence is still considered a certain guarantee by a business community suspicious of the economic and political program – which predicts a more than probable clash with Brussels – of the extreme right.

“In this unprecedented political context, I appear before you with Bardella with my values, with the conviction that I have always defended: I believe in economic freedom, I dare say that I am liberal, I believe in companies and I consider that only companies are a source of growth and employment,” Ciotti presented himself to the businessmen. These, however, did not seem too convinced. “We have not understood anything about what the calendar and reality would be” of the repeal of the RN pension reform, said the president of Medef after more than four hours of listening to the candidates. The ultra seduction offensive still needs to be fine-tuned.

Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.

_