While Bardella has enjoyed success courting the titans of industry — especially those executives belonging to CAC40, the index of France’s largest listed companies — Le Pen’s more recent attempts at engagement with business have been rockier.
Politicians from rival parties are wasting no time in seeking to score points from the ideological schism at the heart of the nationalist, anti-immigration National Rally.
“There’s the new generation National Rally that’s courting CAC40 executives, companies and business leaders … and the old guard that is pro-spending, pro-nanny state,” Édouard Philippe, the conservative main challenger to the far right, said this month. “You can count on me to condemn their posturing and U-turns.”
Éric Zemmour, leader of the far-right Reconquest party, accused Bardella of going to “great lengths” to make it look as if the National Rally were right-wing while the party hierarchy — most notably Le Pen — had leftist economic instincts and wanted to hike taxes.
Noting the divisions between Bardella and Le Pen, members of the far-left France Unbowed party said their presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon believed the National Rally needed to “settle” on its true economic agenda.
It is possible the National Rally will be able to chart a more coherent course on the economy — and key questions such as deficit reduction and pension reform — after a landmark court ruling on July 7 that will determine whether Le Pen or Bardella will be the official presidential candidate in 2027.
