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Frenchman Jordan Bardella, president of the new far-right group Patriots for Europe (PfE), will move to the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET), in what his entourage sees as a chance for him to establish himself on international issues.
Bardella returns to a seat in the European Parliament after losing in France’s legislative elections, with his far-right National Rally (RN) coming in third, behind the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) and President Emmanuel Macron’s camp.
The RN President took the opportunity to join the Foreign Affairs Committee.
“It was a deliberate choice,” Mathilde Androuet, an RN MEP who is close to Bardella, explained to Euractiv. “Dealing with international affairs shows that you are mature. It is a subject that gives you status.”
At AFET, Bardella will be joined by several of France’s most influential MEPs, including Raphaël Glucksmann, president of the Socialist Party (PS), Nathalie Loiseau and Bernard Guetta, members of the Renewal Party, and Marion Maréchal, who has joined the far-right Conservatives and Reformists for Europe (CRE) group.
He could also count on the support of Pierre-Romain Thionnet, the National Youth president, a former parliamentary assistant to Bardella and now a member of the European Parliament.
In Thione’s view, “the Gaullist ideals of the French Fifth Republic require that international/defense issues be at the core of the ‘leader’s’ attention. Jordan Bardella is the president of our parliamentary group and our party, so it is only natural that he joins AFET”, he told Euractiv.
The last AFET committee member, RJM Thierry Mariani, has not yet been reappointed.
“It’s well known that we don’t agree on the assessment of the war situation in Ukraine,” he explained to Euractiv, referring to his opposition to firing missiles at Kiev that could hit Russian territory, or sending in French ground troops.
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Renew’s Guetta also told Euractiv that “international issues will play a major role in the next term,” especially in the context of the US presidential election in November.
In this sense, some of Badla’s positions are worrying for his political opponents.
“He was elected president of a political group that is completely pro-Russian, anti-EU and anti-NATO,” Nathalie Loiseau told Euractiv.
On July 17, the RN president denounced the “anti-establishment” policies first proposed by the new European Parliament, in an effort to save his new allies from the influence of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party. solve, The statement condemned Orban’s visit to Moscow as Hungary began its six-month presidency of the European Council.
In addition to his duties in Strasbourg, Badella must continue to control the internal organization of the National Army until the 2027 presidential election.
However, given Badella’s frequent absences during his last term, especially from the Petitions Committee, his political opponents in the European Parliament began to raise questions.
“If he wants to improve his position, he should start with parliamentary work,” Chloé Ridel, AFET deputy for S&D, told Euractiv.
*Laurent Geslin contributed to this article.
(By Laurent Goslin/Editing by Zoran Radosavljevic)
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