The head of the French National Rally party’s list for the European elections, Jordan Bardella, wants to rewrite the EU treaties and fight “Vonderleyenism”, he said in a statement to reporters in Paris on Thursday.
The party leader set a target of “100 days to mobilise” and “100 days to win” the European elections scheduled for June, which “will be unlike any other”.
Bardella criticised EU Commission chief von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron, saying his main goal was to fight “Vonderleyenism” and supporters of a liberal Europe who are leading Europe to “suicide”.
He said Europe is built on four pillars: the migration and asylum pact, the Green Deal and the deepening and enlargement of the EU.
On the issue of migration, Bardella accused von der Leyen of wanting to turn the EU into a “railway station” and retaliated by suggesting that elections should be seen as a “referendum” on migration.
At the end of January, Bardella called for the Green Deal to be “scrapped”, after which RN MEPs signed a resolution to “abolish” it. For him, the Green Deal is the standard-bearer of “punitive environmentalism turned into a system.”
As for EU enlargement, “when the structure doesn’t work with 27 members, why do you need 36?”. He also said Macron’s comments on sending troops to Ukraine were “deeply irresponsible” and “weakened France’s position, playing into the hands of the Kremlin”.
By proposing an “alternative model of co-operation” based on a new “Tricolore strategy”, Bardella wants to “change everything without destroying anything”, he said.
The “Tricolore strategy” divides the fields of action of member states and the EU into three areas.
Areas where action can be joint are highlighted in green. Orange highlights areas where joint action is possible under certain conditions, such as Schengen-related issues. In red are areas where action should be delegated exclusively to Member States, such as migration management within national borders, energy balance, diplomacy and defence.
Unsurprisingly, the allocation of areas is completely different from the current EU structure, and its implementation would eventually require “rewriting the treaties”, Bardella said. He also added:
The end result of the Tricolore strategy is to redefine the foundations of the European alliance of nations” and “to clarify our relationship with the European institutions.
However, this will only be possible if the RN wins the presidential election in 2027. Bardella said that the upcoming EU vote is like a “midterm”.
Thus, Bardella could see himself “laying the foundations for new negotiations” with the Commission and imposing his “red lines and thus starting to rewrite the current treaties” the day after the 2027 presidential election if the RN wins.
