President of the small party Les Patriotes, Mr. Philippot underlined the existence of an "agreement" with Debout La France with a view to the legislative elections and claimed an "enrichment" of the presidential program of Nicolas Dupont-Aignan by the "holding of a referendum on France's membership of the European Union".

First himself a candidate, Florian Philippot had thrown in the towel on February 18, having collected only one sponsorship from elected officials out of the 500 required.

Florian Philippot is in favor of Frexit when Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, also deputy for Essonne, intends to replace the European Union, "destroyer of our democracy", by a "community of free nations" and has "never uttered the word of Frexit".

The rallying of Florian Philippot is "not only support for a few weeks, it is a real alliance of patriots, sovereignists", assured Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who navigates between 1 and 2% of the voting intentions of the first presidential tower.

The sovereignist presidential candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (G) during a press conference with Florian Philippot, a figure in the anti-health protests and former right-hand man of Marine Le Pen, on March 14, 2022 in Paris Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP

In 2017, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan had supported Marine Le Pen in the between-two-rounds.

He did not speak on Monday on his second round vote in the event of a new face-to-face between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen (RN), while Florian Philippot indicated that he "would support everything that is faced to Macron".

In an internal consultation at the end of February, the militants of the small movement Les Patriotes had favored support for Eric Zemmour, at 40.46%, ahead of 28.65% for Nicolas Dupont-Aignan.

"I had a mandate to negotiate with the two candidates," assured Florian Philippot, stressing that Eric Zemmour did not respond favorably to his conditions.

"I thought he (Florian Philippot) would respect the opinion of his members' vote. I don't understand. In terms of respect for internal democracy, it's surprising to say the least," reacted Marine Le Pen, in the morning.

Florian Philippot, who will try his luck in the legislative elections, above all insisted on his closeness to Mr. Dupont-Aignan in the "fight" against health measures, while most of the restrictions are lifted on Monday.

The two men now propose to ban any confinement in the Constitution.

In recent months, the former N.2 of the National Front and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan have found themselves on the streets several times to demonstrate against the health pass.

Last July, Mr. Philippot had castigated, with the measures against the Covid, the "tyrannical madness" of Emmanuel Macron "who is turning more and more into an odious dictator".

© 2022 AFP