Posted Sep 7, 2023, 1:09 PM
It’s done. Tipped to lead a Reconquest list in the 2024 European elections, Marion Marshalwas charged on Wednesday by Eric Zemmour with leading the battle for the Europeans. A major mission as this election is important for the far-right party which has not been able to transform its presidential score (7% of the vote) into seats in the following legislative elections.
Without any deputy at the Palais-Bourbon, the party of the former polemicist fails to anchor itself in the political landscape while claiming nearly 100,000 members. Obtaining MEPs is essential for him to continue to exist. Reconquest is credited with about 7% of voting intentions in a recent Ifop poll for “Le JDD”. This would allow him to win elected officials.
Strategic choice
But the competition from the RN is strong. Party chairman Jordan Bardella also head of the RN list to the Europeans, wishes “to federate all those who think that France still has an identity to ume, a pride to defend”, even going so far as to quote “the disappointments of Eric Zemmour”. Of the interest of opposing Marion Maréchal to him, considered internally as younger and dynamic, but also capable of tending towards another electorate, that of LR, by investing in societal themes. At the risk of neglecting everyday subjects such as purchasing power or inflation, the main sources of concern for the French.
The famous “union of the rights”, one of the themes dear to Eric Zemmour , should be at the heart of the strategy for this campaign. “You should not talk to other parties but to other French people”, recommends Samuel Lafont, in charge of the digital strategy of Reconquête.
Great replacement
“The RN is ideological nothingness. They have no European vision apart from claiming that they are going to score big. We are addressing the entire spectrum of the right-wing electorate even if our priority is Republican voters, ”adds Nicolas Bay, executive vice-president of Reconquest and former RN. “Eric Zemmour is not into old-fashioned politics, he is able to bring up a young generation with experience to defend a civilizational vision of Europe that we are the only ones to carry”, adds this MEP who should be high on Marion Maréchal’s list.
Main angle of attack, the denunciation of the “Great Replacement” which would be played out on the scale of the European Union. “We want to make voters understand that voting Reconquest is a vital emergency vote,” says Sarah Knafo, party communications director and Eric Zemmour’s right-hand man, whose definitive presence on the list would not have been arbitrated again. The parallel with the European Ecology-The Greens (EELV) campaign, focused on the climate emergency, is regularly cited as an example by the Reconquest staff.
Identity line
This choice of an identity line would have been decided in close collaboration between Eric Zemmour and Marion Maréchal. “They worked out together the interview with the “Figaro” which announces the candidacy of Marion then her intervention in the “20 Hours” of TF1”, specifies a framework of Reconquest. Way to cut short the recurring rumors of a power struggle at the heart of the party.
Questioned on the set of TF1, Marion Maréchal took care to ociate the former pretender to the Elysée with this announcement: “I am happy to work with him in complementarity, he who will be our natural candidate, of course, for the 2027 elections,” she explained straight away. If the composition of the list must reflect the balance of power within the movement, no one within the party doubts that Eric Zemmour will noisily invest the media terrain.