French far right courts business community ahead of elections

Submission statement: A sizeable development in the upcoming French elections as the main business leaders' federation Medef invited the president of the far-right National Rally, Jordan Bardella, to the series of meetings they organize every election cycle with party leaders, breaking the taboo that had until now marginalized the far-right.

Bardella, who is likely to replace Marine Le Pen as the far-right's candidate in 2027 due to her ban from holding office resulting from her conviction for embezzlement, is seeking to reassure business leaders about the National Rally's economic policies as part of a broader strategy courting right-wing voters.

Under Marine Le Pen's leadership, between 2011 and 2022, the National Front, then the National Rally, campaigned on a populist, redistributive platform hostile to free trade, pension reform and economic liberalism and focusing on cost-of-life issues to court rural and suburban voters in de-industrialized and poverty-stricken territories.

But since the last presidential election, which saw Macron defeat Le Pen 58-42 in the second round, the far-right party under Bardella's leadership is shifting their economic rhetoric towards a more liberal stance, emphasizing "freedom of business" and vowing to cut through red tape and bureaucratic standards "weighing down" French entrepreneurs, in order to court new voters usually acquired to the traditional right-wing, and business leaders that were historically hostile to the Le Pens' populism and lack of respect for institutions.

While the Medef's president, Patrick Martin, has remained publicly skeptical of RN's platform, notably fuel subsidies and a perceived lack of willingness to reform the pension system, he has emphasized that business leaders could no longer boycott a party that holds 25% of the seats in the National Assembly and is polling well above any other candidate for next year's presidential election, and said Medef would make a call by February 2027 on which candidate they would publicly back.