The French Future, the small business that rises around Marine Le Pen

RN MP, Thomas Ménagé, chats with RN MP, Jean Philippe Tanguy during the discussion to broaden the base of the financial transaction tax. In Paris, France on June 8, 2023. JULIEN MUGUET FOR “THE WORLD”

Is the National Rally (RN) in the hands of a “deep state” called L’Avenir français? Jean-Philippe Tanguy, at the head of this movement made up of former Debout la France (DLF), the party of Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, is pouting. “At the RN, this is not true… In the Marine team [Le Pen], it is more so. » In a presidential campaign and a year of presence in the National embly, the former relatives of Mr. Dupont-Aignan have taken a major place in the Lepenist system. They take advantage of their knowledge of the Palais-Bourbon, of an unusual curriculum at the National Rally and of a tradition of welcome within the party, inversely proportional to that of their political programme: newcomers are quickly given responsibilities.

The rise in power of these executives claiming to be “Gaullist right” and rejecting radicality is not without consequence on the balance of a party with an extreme right program, with anti-Gaullist roots and which continues to describe itself as “neither right nor left”.

Marine Le Pen looked at the cradle of L’Avenir français at birth, in 2021imagining it as a bridge between DLF alumni and the RN: at its launch conference, it rents its own “gathering spirit”whose corollary is “the ability to compromise” programmatic. Two years later, Jean-Philippe Tanguy judges that his movement “not to be complained about” : he himself is deputy chairman of the group at the National embly, Thomas Ménagé, deputy for Loiret, has been appointed co-rapporteur of the party on pension reform and Alexandre Loubet, elected representative of Moselle, has approached Jordan Bardella and will lead the campaign for the European elections.

“Very different sociology”

Of the eighty-eight deputies of the RN, five come from L’Avenir français, which also provides nine parliamentary collaborators. Beaten in a by-election, Anne-Sophie Frigout, whose election had been invalidated in the Marne, should obtain an eligible position in the European elections of 2024. This place of first choice arouses jealousy internally, in particular from of party spokespersons who have been pushed into the background for a year. “If there are jealous people, let them perform as well and we will use them just as much”reframes Renaud Labaye, the secretary general of the RN group in the embly.

Two years ago, M.me Le Pen sets a mission for Mr. Tanguy: “Introduce me to people you know. If they are good, I will value them. » The one who is then president of the party sees in L’Avenir français a pool of young talents, which she lacks in the RN. “We don’t know politics better, but we have a sociology very different from that of the National Rally”explains Mr. Tanguy. Among others, a senior customs engineer and two graduates of Sciences Po Paris, one of whom – Jean-Philippe Tanguy – ped through Alstom. This handful of executives also claims a taste for permanent agitation and, according to Alexandre Loubet, “a versatility acquired at Debout la France, where we had visibility on everything: program, memberships, human resources, campaign management, communication”.

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