• The National Front, which became the National Rally, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on Wednesday.

  • Marine Le Pen's party is organizing a conference this Thursday at the National Assembly on this occasion.

  • Between ruptures and the desire for change, fifty is sometimes the age of existential crises, but what about RN?

The National Front celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on Wednesday.

"From a protest party, we have made it a party ready to govern", assured Marine Le Pen on Twitter.

Neither fiesta nor candles, however, but a simple "symposium" organized within the National Assembly, this Thursday, to celebrate the history, often sulphurous, of the party founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen.

“I will be happy once it is behind us …”, sighs a deputy from the RN.

Because fifty is also the age of existential crises, marked by ruptures or desires for novelty.

What about the FN, which has become RN?

20 Minutes

takes stock.



Change look

Turning fifty is sometimes accompanied by a burning desire to change one's style of dress or hairstyle.

Marine Le Pen did not wait for the 50th anniversary of the FN to get a polish.

Since her accession to the presidency in 2011, she has defended a de-demonization of the Front.

The latter even changing the name in 2018, to break through the famous glass ceiling.

"It is from his point of view an essential strategy to conquer power: to erase the sulphurous aspect of the past, while maintaining the fundamentals of the party on immigration, security or identity", indicates Jean-Yves Camus , a political scientist specializing in the far right.

“It is a complicated exercise that she has partly succeeded within the electorate.

But the second round of the last presidential election (42%) showed that there was still a long way to go,” he adds.

Break free from family

Fifty is also the age when family relationships can deteriorate and sometimes even lead to rupture.

On this side again, the National Rally did not wait to be "quinqua" to cut ties with the patriarch Jean-Marie Le Pen.

After several turbulent years, the founder of the National Front was finally expelled from the party in 2015 and removed from the honorary presidency in 2018. “This break has an intimate and political aspect.

Marine Le Pen emancipated herself from her father by expressing many points of disagreement, on the inequality of races, the

"detail of history" or economic liberalism", recalls Jean-Yves Camus.

Another more recent break, during the last presidential election, when part of the RN executives joined Eric Zemmour's campaign.

Discover new activities

The fifties offer the opportunity to discover new passions, such as pottery or motorcycling.

Within the RN, even if Marine Le Pen sometimes imagines a retraining in cat breeding, emancipation remains very political.

The movement thus tries to put forward new themes, such as the defense of animals, or localism, which allows it to link ecology, immigration and identity.

With the entry into force in the National Assembly this summer of 89 elected officials, the RN also intends to continue its “normalization”, by diversifying its skills.

“We will have the opportunity to specialize in specific subjects by working with specialists or elected officials in the field.

The objective is to carry out serious legislative work to show that we are ready to govern in 2027, ”assures an RN deputy.

Thinking about the future

At fifty, one has the age of one's arteries: one begins to think about the future and one's succession.

“Marine Le Pen understood that the demonization of the RN coincided with a generational change.

She has shown her ability to let new, younger figures emerge, where Jean-Marie Le Pen did not want to see any head stick out, ”says Jean-Yves Camus.

On November 5, RN members will choose between MEP Jordan Bardella and the mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot, to become their new leader.

And, it's a small revolution: for the first time in fifty years, the party will have an elected president who will not bear the name Le Pen.

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  • Marine Le Pen

  • National Rally (RN)

  • Anniversary

  • Louis Aliot

  • Jordan Bardella

  • Political party