Paris (AFP)

The municipal campaign barely launched, Marine Le Pen is already preparing for the presidential election of 2022, eager not to repeat the mistakes that had earned her in 2017 incompetence trials.

"We have entered a pre-presidential phase" and "my decision has been reflected but it is taken. My plan is to go towards a project of national unity (...), of great alternation to put the country back on foot, "said Thursday in her greetings to the press the president of the National Rally, who had already said she wanted to be a candidate.

Ms. Le Pen explained that "for a year", she had "withdrawn, not from elections but from pure electoral contests, from immediate combat, to favor substantive reflection" and prepare her project which "will forge the backbone of the gathering beyond our political family. "

The political scientist Jean-Yves Camus sees in these remarks an "admission of insufficiency". He recalls that in addition to the debate of May 3, 2017 with Emmanuel Macron "ill prepared and badly led", who had disappointed many activists and generated a drop in membership, Marine Le Pen "has a credibility deficit on his future" government team " .

In this regard Marine Le Pen promised in the fall that she would present during her campaign the "profiles of a certain number of people" to whom she would like to "entrust responsibilities".

She also mentioned on Thursday the work of the mysterious group of Horaces, which brings together "high-level technical and administrative skills" and will be called upon to "exercise power". In this regard, she will present several white papers, the first of which will focus on security, a priority for RN town halls, before social fraud and the energy transition.

- "New elite" -

The member for Pas-de-Calais also assured that the municipal elections would bring about a "new elite from the people".

For this campaign, Marine Le Pen counts on "two legs", that of the party and its roots, which it wants to consolidate in the intermediate elections (municipal, departmental, regional) and that of "civil society" and "experts" .

By launching her party on Sunday in the municipal election campaign, she also praised the results of the ten cities held by the RN, which is proof in her eyes that the RN can come to power.

She further justified her candidacy, which must still be validated by her party at a congress in 2021, by the fact that Emmanuel Macron had already gone to the countryside and that the major current topics, such as the + yellow vests + or pensions, "would be the main subjects of the presidential election".

The far-right leader said in October that she was "ready to do the job" that Emmanuel Macron "is not doing", after having once doubted his real "desire" to appear for the third times in a presidential election.

Thursday, she even mentioned ... 2027. Asked if the 2022 campaign would be her last, the future candidate replied that "I will have to run for re-election".

Asked about the financial difficulties of her party, aggravated by court decisions, Marine Le Pen mentioned a new call for donations to the address not only of its members but of its "voters".

As for the Europeans, Marine Le Pen intends to favor small presidential meetings, which are less expensive, than giant rallies for the presidential elections.

© 2020 AFP