According to the President of Patriots for Europe Jordan Bardella, there are still great successes ahead for the Right in Europe.

At the beginning of December, Patriots for Europe (PfE), the third largest political group in the new European Parliament, held an extraordinary meeting in Budapest, where a political declaration calling for a tougher EU migration policy was also adopted. Mandiner spoke with President of Patriots for Europe Jordan Bardella about the Patriots’ successes this year and the challenges ahead for the group next year.

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The last time President De Gaulle’s prime minister, Pompidou, failed in parliament was in 1962. And there has never been an overthrow of the government under section 49.3 of the Constitution—until now. What is the cause of the crisis in current French politics? And what are the implications for Europe?

It is true that this situation only occurred in France once under the Fifth Republic, but this historical significance must be put into perspective. We are not happy with this situation; it is not a coup by the National Rally (Rassemblement National): we simply used a democratic tool permitted by our Constitution. Every time we make a decision, we only ask ourselves one question: is it good or bad for the French people? We made this reasonable decision to ensure respect for our voters and protect the French people.

We did it first for a formal reason: this government refused to listen to us and despised us. We represent nearly 11 million French voters, who are not sub-citizens and who deserve consideration and respect. Michel Barnier waited many weeks before deigning to consult us and reacted disastrously a few hours before overthrow when he understood that we would not give in.

Then, we overthrew this government because it submitted a socialist budget that increased taxation in France by 40 billion euros, without resolving the issue of the record deficit and debt.

From the start, we have been clear and made our red lines known: we must not touch the purchasing power of the French, we must not increase taxes on SMEs, we need a change in migration policy and security, and put an end to bad spending. These red lines were not taken into account by the government, which persisted in presenting a budget of punishment and recession. But we have not entered a period of chaos as the government and Emmanuel Macron tried to make us believe in order to stir up fear, frighten the French people, and worry our European neighbours. The previous year’s budget applies for 2025, and a special law, which we will vote on, will make it possible to make the technical adjustments that are unanimously agreed upon. A new Prime Minister will be appointed, whom we will not reject a priori, and with whom we will re-engage in discussions, with the same principles. Emmanuel Macron’s camp does not have a majority, and the National Rally is the largest group in the National Assembly: he has no other choice but to discuss with us. On the other hand, we have made it known that the appointment of a Prime Minister from the Popular Front (Nouveau Front populaire) , the alliance of the left and the far-left, would lead to our immediate refusal because it represents a very significant danger for our economy and the cohesion of the nation.

‘We overthrew this government because it submitted a socialist budget that increased taxation in France by 40 billion euros’

You recently had a book launch in Brussels, where aggressive Antifa protesters showed up. What do you think is the reason for these hysterical manifestations of the left?

An advertising campaign was planned to promote my book in French train stations: the far-left unions mobilized, and put pressure on the management of the SNCF [the French public railway company], which gave in. Often, our meetings and the signing sessions that I do throughout France are contested by demonstrations from the far left, who cannot tolerate contradiction and our progress. The more a minority they become, the more aggressive they are. What’s next? Stop people from buying my book? Burn my books? We see it in France, but also in several European countries as I was able to observe in Brussels: there is, on the left, a huge sectarianism and a nostalgia for totalitarianism.

It’s been a busy year for European politics this year, with the formation of the Patriots for Europe group and then the party. What are the first experiences? What do you consider the biggest achievements of this year?

This year has indeed been full of victories and very exciting. We achieved great success in the European elections, then very quickly formed this large Patriots for Europe group, the third force of the European Parliament, with the help of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Fidesz, with whom we have a common ambition in Europe: changing everything without destroying anything. Like Fidesz in Hungary, the National Rally in France defends the sovereignty of our nation, the identity of our people, and economic prosperity. The European institutions must now take our political weight into account!

‘We have a common ambition in Europe: changing everything without destroying anything’

2025 is likely to be no less exciting than this year. What will be the biggest challenges facing the Patriots? What will be the most important tasks?

We intend to work together at the European level on the major issues that concern our people, and in particular, as we did a few days ago in Budapest, on the question of immigration, which involves our future and that of our European civilization. For several decades now, Europe has been facing uninterrupted waves of migration, supported by the European Commission. We have within the European Parliament the ambition to stop the flows and to put in place a dissuasive immigration policy. We want to do this in our states, with our respective political parties, but also at the European level with our allies. For the European Union and the European Commission, immigration is not a problem, it is a political project: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán does not want to welcome migrants and wants to protect Hungarian identity, this is one of the reasons why he has been subjected to economic and financial blackmail for years. At the French level, the political situation can lead to a new dissolution of the National Assembly by the summer. We must therefore prepare for it, because the National Rally can this time obtain, given our dynamics, a stable majority to govern.

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