The themes of populism and order dominated Marine Le Pen’s New Year’s wishes to the press on Wednesday.
The leader of the extreme right-wing Front National (FN) hopes to ride the populist wave that resulted in the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's election to become France's first woman president next May.
The words “In the name of the people” were emblazoned on the backdrop to Le Pen’s speech. She has appropriated the rose, which was long the symbol of the socialist party. But Le Pen’s rose has a long, horizontal stem resembling a sword.
"Restore Order in France", said another campaign poster sporting Le Pen's smiling face. Compared to the "posturing" and superficial "appearance" of her opponents, Le Pen concluded, "There is in my candidacy a compass for the French, a rock, solidity . . . depth, will, determination . . . Facing this disorder, there is an orderly campaign . . . to put France back in order."
The name of the party was absent from the posters and from Le Pen’s speech. She has in the past stressed that she was not the candidate “of” the FN but the candidate “supported by the FN”.
Through her policy of dédiabolisation or "undemonising", Le Pen has sought to distance the party she inherited from her father Jean-Marie from its past association in the public mind with second World War collaborationists, proponents of l'Algérie Francaise, skinheads and neo-Nazis.
Losing ground
At her 2016 wishes ceremony, Le Pen had vowed to maintain a year of silence as she prepared her presidential campaign. “I kept my promise,” she said on Wednesday. She previously led against most candidates, but has lost ground in recent polls and is running second, behind Les Républicains candidate François Fillon.
Le Pen used much of the quiet months attempting to prove she is not racist, by visiting France’s mostly black overseas territories of Réunion, Mayotte and Guyane.
Although Le Pen last year expelled her father from the party, a court ruled that he could not be stripped of the title of honorary president.
Wednesday’s ceremony made clear that Le Pen’s campaign has more ambition than means. She has rented headquarters in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, a few blocks from the Élysée Palace. But her offices are shabby and journalists were packed like sardines in the cramped conference room where she spoke.
Although father and daughter are not on speaking terms, they negotiated a €´6 million “gift” from Jean-Marie’s bank-like “micro-party” Cotelec, which he had established to finance the FN. Le Pen announced on Tuesday that she needs another €´6 million to complete the campaign. Since no French bank will lend it to her, she said, she has turned to European, US and Russian banks.
Russian support
Like the US president-elect Donald Trump, Le Pen admires Vladimir Putin. She approved of the Russian annexation of the Crimea in March 2014. Six months later, the First Czech-Russian Bank lent her party €´9 million. But that bank has failed, and Le Monde reported yesterday that a Russian state agency is now demanding that the FN reimburse the loan.
Le Pen promised to bring will or determination back into French politics. “Will pays off,” she said. “As proof, look what Donald Trump has obtained. The Ford automobile company has reversed a plan to move a factory to Mexico, in favour of a US location. So protectionism works, when it is carried by will and the country disposes of its economic sovereignty.”
Le Pen did not mention her usual bugbears: Europe and open borders and immigration, which she blames for terrorism.
The FN performed badly in the December 2015 regional elections because the French feared it would prove too divisive. Le Pen is increasingly conciliatory. She raised hackles in the FN in September by saying that Islam was “compatible” with the republic.
The challenge for Le Pen will be to maintain core support on the far right while luring voters from mainstream parties. She has made preventing the casse sociale or "social destruction", which she says is inherent in Fillon's reform programme, a major theme.
Le Pen will unveil her programme at her presidential assises in Lyon on February 4-5, but she promised on Wednesday to reduce the number of deputies in the National Assembly from 577 to 300 and the number of senators from 348 to 200. She said she would do away with regional governments, leaving only three levels of the French administrative millefeuille. And she promised frequent recourse to referendums.
