"We are united around Marine Le Pen. Shaking a tree so that the rotten fruits fall is ultimately always a good thing, it regenerates vitality", argued on RMC Mr. Jacobelli, former activist of Debout la France who joined the RN in 2017.
RN President Jordan Bardella again minimized these departures: "It's not a bloodletting" but "a dozen" people out of a thousand elected.
About Nicolas Bay, "there is a form of loyalty to have. We cannot be in a form of sabotage which aims to serialize his departure", he said on France Inter.
Three MEPs - Jérôme Rivière, Gilbert Collard and Maxette Pirbakas - have joined the candidate Reconquête!
Eric Zemmour, followed on Sunday by the only senator RN Stéphane Ravier, as well as several regional advisers.
Nicolas Bay, MEP and member of the executive office (management), who plans to join the far-right candidate, was suspended from office by the RN on Tuesday.
The party accuses him of "sabotage" for having transmitted information to Marine Le Pen's rival, which he denies.
Without naming him, Marine Le Pen had Tuesday "asked those who operate the slug strategy to please speed up their departures (...) because the slug is slow but also sticky".
Mr. Jacobelli welcomed a "precautionary measure" because we "cannot keep a mole inside our team" and "we knew that he (Nicolas Bay) was negotiating his departure".
"We have to stop the ridicule a little" with "espionage", retorted Jérôme Rivière on franceinfo.
Marine Le Pen "seeks to change the electorate, to change parties", and she "gives up on immigration, on social issues".
The candidate "fires people because she knows that after this defeat, we will have to manage a small party", judged the MEP.
© 2022 AFP