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June 11, 2024 – 17:05
Jordan Bardella, who the far right is running for prime minister in France if he wins the election, is a self-confident 28-year-old, hailed by his supporters but seen by his detractors as lacking substance.
Bardella, born into a family of Italian origin, led his National Rally party (RN) to victory in France during the European elections with almost a third of the votes and now aims to be prime minister.
“If the French trust us, Jordan Bardella will be prime minister,” RN leader Marine Le Pen confirmed on Monday, specifying that her “ambition” is to become president of France in 2027 and thus form an “executive duo.”
The heir party of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front (FN), known for its racist and anti-Semitic comments, offered a youth cure with Bardella, president of the party since 2022. Successfully.
“Our compatriots have expressed a desire for change, but also a path for the future,” the young leader told his followers after Sunday’s victory, stressing that “a wind of hope blew in France.”
– “Captain, my captain” –
Without abandoning his line against immigration, insecurity and “punitive” ecology, the biography of Bardella, raised by his mother in a social housing tower on the outskirts of Paris, breaks with the traditional image of the party.
Whenever he travels through France, especially to agricultural fairs, the young man who studied Geography at university takes hundreds of photos with his supporters for hours.
Added to this is his careful image – with impeccable shirts, suits and shoes – and his communication skills, especially on social networks. On TikTok, he has 1.2 million followers, the vast majority of whom are young.
“Captain, my captain, we need you to guide us,” reads the soundtrack of Bardella videos published during the campaign on this social network.
His greatest difficulty during the European Championships was the debate against the centrist prime minister, Gabriel Attal, 35, who tried to put him on the ropes about his vision of Europe in a televised debate.
“I’m not like you, changing my mind about everything (…), saying ‘we want to leave Europe’ and then ‘in the end we want to stay’; ‘we want to leave the euro’, ‘in the end we want to stay’,” Attal attacked.
“I am not against Europe. “I am against the way Europe works now,” responded the far-right, who distanced the RN from its Alternative for Germany (AfD) allies after a succession of controversies.
– “Ghost Parliamentarian” –
Critics of Bardella, whose economic vision is more liberal than Le Pen’s, accuse him of spending too much time perfecting his public image and too little time studying important political issues.
The radical left MEP Manon Aubry even described him as a “ghost parliamentarian” during the last term in the European Parliament (2019-2024).
His rise has not been without controversy. A French television report reported in January that he used an anonymous Twitter account (renamed X) to share racist messages, when he had not yet made the jump to national politics.
A 2017 post from the “RepNat du Gaito” account includes an obscene image mocking Théo Luhaka, a young black man who suffered serious anal injuries during a violent police arrest that year, according to the France 2 report.
Bardella denies being behind this account.
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