Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally's group of deputies in the French National Assembly and a declared candidate for the 2027 presidential election, launched her political comeback this weekend after a quiet summer. She took part on Saturday, September 12, in her party's parliamentary return in Le Touquet, in the Pas-de-Calais region, before delivering a speech on Sunday in her stronghold of Hénin-Beaumont, also in Pas-de-Calais.
The rentrée follows Le Pen's appearance in a debate organised by the employers' federation Medef, broadcast on the channel LCI on August 27. She was expected to use the occasion to put her party's proposals back in order and to move past a string of controversial statements and reported friction with her top lieutenant, Jordan Bardella, that have marked the party's recent weeks.
Ukraine aid comments draw fire
While Le Pen herself had kept a fairly low profile in recent weeks, other party figures had not. The first to stir controversy was Louis Aliot, the mayor of Perpignan, who on September 3 raised the possibility of ending French aid to Ukraine given the state of the national budget. Speaking on the channel BFMTV, he argued that the health system, the education system and the wider economy were all stretched to the limit while money was still being found to fund more weapons, and he asked who was supposed to pay for it all, adding that wars also had to be brought to an end at some point.
The remarks were seen as a gift to Le Pen's political rivals, who used them to accuse her of leniency toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Bardella's deal with Nigel Farage
Also on the international front, National Rally president Jordan Bardella travelled to the United Kingdom, where he staged the signing of a symbolic memorandum of understanding with Nigel Farage, leader of the pro-Brexit Reform UK party. The document envisions a future in which both allied parties are in power and includes a provision for sending migrants intercepted in British waters back to France.
The move drew sharp criticism from political opponents ranging from Gabriel Attal of the centrist Renaissance party to Éric Zemmour of the hard-right Reconquête. Senior National Rally figures, who have made the fight against illegal immigration a central theme of the party, had to mobilise to defend the agreement signed by Bardella.
Racism scandal in Carcassonne
This week, the party was embarrassed by another case involving what French media have taken to calling a "black sheep" in its ranks, forcing officials to counterattack. A municipal police officer in Carcassonne, a city run by the National Rally, was caught on camera making racist and sexist remarks.
Footage released by the regional press predated the municipal elections and the National Rally's subsequent victory in the city, but the officer involved was also a party member and belonged to its security service. The party quickly issued a statement announcing his expulsion from the movement and his removal from the security service. That did not stop opponents from pointing out that such cases keep recurring, particularly around election time.
Veil ban and pension disputes
The party also succeeded in pushing a debate over banning the Islamic veil into the wider political conversation, after a proposal put forward days earlier by deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy. But the idea caused difficulties for party members tasked with defending it in public, with opponents of the far-right party pointing out that such a measure would be unconstitutional and impossible to apply.
Separately, the question of pensions continues to divide opinion within the party, with Bardella and Le Pen expressing somewhat different positions on how the legal retirement age should evolve.
Rumours of a rift with Bardella
Rumours of discord between Le Pen, who currently leads every opinion poll for the presidency, and Bardella, who is expected to become her prime minister if she wins, have continued to circulate. Whether well-founded or not, they have prompted Bardella to repeatedly reassure the media of his full support for Le Pen.
In an interview with BFMTV on Saturday, September 5, he said there was an unshakeable political and personal bond between him and Le Pen. He added that anyone expecting him to be disloyal to her did not know him well, and pledged to keep doing his job and to remain at his post.
In recent days, the role of Marion Maréchal, Le Pen's niece, in her aunt's campaign has reportedly caused fresh tension with Bardella, who is said to be concerned about losing part of his leadership. Maréchal, a former ally of Éric Zemmour, insisted the campaign would go very well and said that no one intended to harm Le Pen's campaign, apart from opponents who would try to provoke division within the nationalist camp.
