Fréjus (AFP)
Marine Le Pen plunged into the presidential campaign Sunday in Fréjus, defending French "civilization" and its "freedoms", in a nod to the identity of the polemicist and potential candidate Eric Zemmour.
She also passed the reins of the party to her very young (26 years old on Monday) number two Jordan Bardella, who attacked the opponents of the candidate for the Elysee frontally, foremost among them Emmanuel Macron.
The presidential election in 2022 "will not only be a choice of society, as the previous polls have been able to be, it will be a choice of civilization", declared Marine Le Pen, in front of some 900 activists gathered in the Roman theater of the city , who chanted "Marine president".
"There will be only two alternatives" in 2022, "either the dilution of France by deconstruction and (migratory) submersion, or the salutary leap that will bring France into the third millennium around the idea of Nation", added Ms. Le Pen, in an allusion to the theory of the "great replacement" (of the European population by an immigrant population) praised by Mr. Zemmour but of which she does not share the conspiratorial aspect.
"In France, the French have the right to live like French people. Delinquents will be put out of harm's way, French delinquents in prison, foreigners on the plane," she promised.
- "Taliban" -
Showing herself as the "president of French freedoms", her campaign slogan, she proposed "free trains" for young people and the creation, "on a European scale, of a free and free social network".
Ms. Le Pen and Mr. Zemmour regularly denounce the "censorship" against them by internet groups.
Lashing out at the "deafening silence of so-called feminists", a frequent target of the CNews polemicist, she promised to free women from the "obscurantist yoke" of the "Taliban from within", proposing that those convicted of sexist outrages be registered in the criminal and sex offender register.
Ms. Le Pen thinks that France is not waiting for "a Trump" and that Eric Zemmour "will not go to the end" of the presidential campaign.
Mr. Zemmour, who is starting the promotion of his electoral campaign-flavored book next week, said on France 2 that he "wanted" to be a candidate, and repeated that Ms. Le Pen "would never win" in 2022. "I does not find that she has progressed "since his failed debate against Emmanuel Macron in 2017.
Sébastien Chenu, spokesperson for the RN, replied Sunday on France Inter that Ms. Le Pen and Mr. Zemmour were not "of the same caliber and of the same level", questioning the usefulness of a "candidate for testimony".
- "Dead star" -
Jordan Bardella, who takes over the interim presidency of the far-right party, urged activists, still stunned by the failure of regional and losing members, to "roll up their sleeves" for the presidential election.
He will begin a tour of the federations next week.
He particularly attacked President Macron, "a man from nowhere who leads nowhere", "who promised a revolution and did not carry out a single one of the reforms" promised.
He also attacked the socialist Anne Hidalgo, who announced on Sunday her candidacy for the presidential election and will be at 8:00 p.m. in France 2 at the same time as Marine Le Pen at 8:00 p.m. on TF1, who "transformed the neighborhoods of our capital in wasteland ", and mocked the Republicans, a" dead star ", who will eventually rally Mr. Macron.
The day before, Marine Le Pen had presented his campaign director, Christophe Bay, a former prefect and not a politician like David Rachline in 2017, and mentioned thematic trips over two or three days, to "take the time" to discuss with the French around the 22 proposals of its program, instead of 144 in 2017.
In a booklet of advice to his "dear Marine" that he supports for 2022, the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard suggests that he leave the presidency of the party for good, to show that she "gives herself completely to this campaign".
© 2021 AFP