An Interview with RN MEP Thierry Mariani

On June 9, 2024, the European Parliament elections were held. It eventually resulted in a political earthquake in France, as Marine Le Pen’s party, Rassemblement National (RN from now on) got 31.37 percent and Macron’s remained only 13.83 percent, a very bad result.

Emmanuel Macron, President of France, consequently decided to call early legislative elections. The RN had all the cards to win an absolute majority in the French parliament, something that would have been overwhelming news for the establishment and would have given wings to the new conservative right in Europe.

Although the RN swept in the first round, in the second round the turnout was very high (the highest since 1997) and the left-wing coalition (Nouveau Front Populaire) came first with 28.14 percent, eventually delegating 184 representatives. The Ensemble, Macron’s party, came second with 21.27 percent, obtaining 168 seats. The RN, Le Pen’s party, came third with 31.15 percent, obtaining 143 mandates.

In the uncertainty of what may happen in France, The Long Brief has interviewed Thierry Mariani. Mariani was a member of France’s National Assembly for the fourth constituency of Vaucluse between 1993 and 2012. He also served as Minister of Transport from November 14, 2010 to May 10, 2012. Since 2019 Mariani has been an MEP for the RN.

In the first round, it seemed that the RN could get an absolute majority. However, the Popular Front (left) has managed to come first. What has happened?

The Rassemblement National was faced with arrangements between cronies that do no honour to democracy. The far left, with its anti-Semitic overtones, received support from Emmanuel Macron’s friends, and vice versa. We even saw center-right politicians calling for votes for the Communist Party.

All the elites have done is delay the inevitable: the return of the people to the forefront of French political life with a patriotic government.

Was Emmanuel Macron, theoretically of the center, expected to ally himself with the left?

During the European election campaign, Emmanuel Macron accused Jean Luc Melenchon’s party of anti-Semitism. A month later, Emmanuel Macron’s friends were supporting far-left candidates. Of course, this may come as a shock to outsiders, but in France, we know that Emmanuel Macron doesn’t care about serving the French, and is only interested in flattering his own personal pride.

President of France Emmanuel Macron in 2024 (Photo: Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union / Julien Nizet)

Despite the expectation, the RN has gone from 89 representatives in the French parliament to 150. What has changed from 2022 to now?

The French have had enough of Emmanuel Macron’s triptych: endless immigration, abysmal debt, falling purchasing power.

It’s only natural that they should turn to the Rassemblement National. What’s more, the behavior of our MPs, their presence and their exemplary nature are convincing the French that we are the best alternative to turn the country around.

What do you think will be the government of France? Many speak of a center coalition between Ensemble, Parti socialiste and Les Républicains.

Emmanuel Macron is going to seek to replicate the Republique en Marche: so to combine the center-right, the center-left and the hypercenter. However, he has played an extremely dangerous game by supporting the entire so-called New Popular Front coalition. We’ll see if he has offered France on a platter to Jean Luc Melenchon’s radical friends in a bid to preserve his personal power.

What policies can we expect from the next government in France?

At best, the one that has been pursued since 2017 and that is leading us to ruin. In the event of Jean-Luc Melenchon’s influence on the government, chaos will be added to ruin.

Manys speak of 2027 as the year that will really change France with the presidential elections in which Macron cannot run. Do you think that Le Pen could become president of France in that year?

As we speak, Marine Le Pen is well ahead in the polls in the first round of the presidential election. In politics anything is possible, but I think the French will plebiscite a major change after the exhaustion of the political system and its desperate attempt to save Emmanuel Macron’s technostructure. And they will have a recourse: Marine Le Pen.

Finally, on the European scene, this Sunday we learned that Rassemblement National have joined Patriots for Europe, a group created and led by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. What did you think of the new initiative and how do you value the group and RN’s entry into it?

Viktor Orban is the precursor of the awakening of institutional rights in Europe.

We are delighted and proud to count him among our closest allies. He was very wise to refuse the race to war that Madame Von Der Leyen’s friends wanted to drag us into as quickly as possible. It is with men like Viktor Orban that we will succeed in putting the European institutions at the service of European civilization rather than those who want to destroy it.