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Philippe and his allies believe Le Pen will be a harder opponent to defeat than Bardella...
The unexpected return of far-right leader Marine Le Pen to the race for the 2027 French presidential election is forcing one of her main opponents, Edouard Philippe, to change campaign strategy.
After launching his campaign in May with the promise of convincing voters of an "extremely optimistic" conservative agenda, the former French prime minister and his team are now portraying Le Pen as a leftist and fiscally irresponsible politician.
" Marine Le Pen has a platform that is, essentially, left-wing," said Nathalie Loiseau, a member of the European Parliament and Philippe supporter.
This is not a new criticism of Le Pen. Her opponents on the right have long accused her party, the Rassemblement National, of a lack of coherence in economic policies. Philippe himself, at a recent rally in Paris, accused the party of hypocrisy. However, now that the official candidate is Le Pen and not Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old who was considered more attractive to conservative voters, Philippe and his team believe that their criticism will have more effect.
Le Pen's conviction for embezzlement and five-year ban from running for public office last year had put Bardellan in the role of the National Rally's likely candidate. In that role, he sought to broaden support for the party by promoting more business-friendly and fiscally conservative policies.
However, Le Pen's appeal ended on Tuesday with a surprise court ruling that cleared the way for her to run for president. This means that her vision of a state with a greater role in the economy and social protection is expected to dominate the party's platform.
Philippe and his allies believe that Le Pen will be a more difficult opponent to defeat than Bardella, but they are confident that they can successfully challenge her program.
"Le Pen and Bardella each have their strengths and weaknesses. Le Pen is more experienced and likely to be a stronger opponent, but her platform has serious shortcomings in several aspects," said Horizons MP Frédéric Valletoux.
In comparison, the ideological flexibility that Bardella had displayed on economic policy issues made him more attractive to fiscally conservative voters, whom Philippe and other right-wing candidates aim to win over.
A clear example is the different stance of two far-right leaders on pension reform.
Le Pen officially supports lowering the minimum retirement age in France to 62, overturning President Emmanuel Macron's controversial 2023 reform that would have gradually raised it to 64. Meanwhile, Bardella had hinted that the party could reconsider this stance, due to concerns about the state of France's public finances. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), France's public debt is expected to rise from 115.5% of Gross Domestic Product to 203% by 2050.
Now that Bardella is no longer in the race, Philippe's Horizons party aims to attack Le Pen for what it says are the inconsistencies and lack of realism of an overly statist program that aims to repeal pension reform and convince citizens that they can work less.
Philippe, on the other hand, has proposed raising the retirement age even further, beyond what Macron's reform envisions. While this measure is unlikely to be popular with most voters, it could appeal to the very conservative segment that Bardella was trying to win over.
"A right-wing voter who values free enterprise and fiscal and budgetary discipline is less likely to vote for Marine Le Pen than he would for Jordan Bardellan. Edouard Philippe has a chance of winning over these voters ," said Gilles Boyer, Philippe's campaign co-manager. / Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "Politico"
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