Marine Le Pen: “Neither fascists nor leftists, we are the third pole”

PARIS – CARRY OUT the strategy of “overcoming the demonization” of its movement. Give a roadmap to future mayors and municipal councilors of his movement, setting the bar very high: they must be virtuous, respect the opposition and “keep their promises”. Two days after the second round of administrative elections in France, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Front National, the ultra-right party that went to the ballot in 229 municipalities in the country, speaks. Le Pen hopes for the birth of a “great patriotic movement, neither right nor left”, a “ruling party” as opposed to another political bloc, which would be constituted by the UMP and the Socialist Party. A sort of “French peronism”,

But doesn’t your choice to be “neither right nor left” risk preventing any alliance, leading you into a blind alley? 
“Not at all. This is what the French expect. In our electorate we have both the UMP’s disappointed and the PS’s disappointed. We are in the year zero of a great patriotic movement, neither right nor left, which is based its opposition to the current political class on the defense of the nation, on the rejection of ultraliberalism and Europeanism, able to transcend the ancient barriers to pose real problems: is the perspective national or post-national? I hope this may appear clear to the time of the European elections “.

But isn’t the Front National part of the right-wing blockade?
“No, absolutely. The right-wing alignment no longer corresponds to reality. The voters cannot be cataloged in two opposing camps, right and left; the reality is much more complex.”

In your opinion, can the FN take power by itself? 
“We are going through a tripolarization of French political life. The Fifth Republic – unless we move to the Sixth – will again impose bipolarity, as it is in the logic of the institutions. And the comparison will be between the UMP on one side and the National Front – Rassemblement Bleu Marine on the other “.

With these alliances, are you not afraid of disappointing voters who vote for your national program? 
“It is not entirely true. The refusal to subsidize politicized or communitarian associations is a political act, as is the defense of small traders, or the fight against insecurity. The French know perfectly well how to distinguish between municipal and national competences”.

What are the politicized associations? 
“Those who take sides in the elections. If the Human Rights League issues a leaflet to vote for or against someone, it means that it is politicized. Why then is it not formed into a political party? Associations can take political positions; in which they request public subsidies they have the obligation to respect certain poles ”

Will a “de-ideologized” FN mayor be different from a UMP or socialist party mayor? 
“I believe so. I think above all to do away with the delirious fanfare that consists in saying” it will be war it will be Fascism “. The fascist danger is a fairy tale for children and for some intellectual left Parisian. The real question is to know if the elected representatives of the Fn will be treated like the others or like pariahs. In the latter case, in six years there will be a hundred times more “.

Is the Fn that has changed or is it society?
“Both of them. The FN has changed because it is a big party, and when we are big, we change: we don’t see things the same way as when we are an opposition, protesting party that lives in hostility Now we have a quieter vision. We have become a ruling party, which has the structure and the electoral base to come to power. ”

Will the Rassemblemet Bleu Marine municipal card be the program for all Front National mayors? 
“Yup”.

Beyond the conquered cities, what is the ideal scenario for you? A triumph of the UMP? A socialist party that limits the damage?
“It is what will show that the FN has reserves of votes on the right as well as on the left. This will make it clear to our voters that we can win tomorrow, in any election.”

Do you play for 2017 (the next presidential election, ed) in 2014? 
“Not only. The regional, the cantonal, the presidential, the legislative … To show that we are a great force that can win the elections, that we must place ourselves in the first round, that we have reservations to draw for the second, one more both on the right and on the left “.

(29 March 2014)