Jordan Bardella, 27, becomes a star of the far-right in France as he presides over Le Pen’s party

Jordan Bardella. Save that name, you’ll hear about it. New star of the far-right in France, Bardella was elected, on Saturday (5), at 27, president of the Réunion National, the party of Marine Le Pen.

Not only because of his age, the feat is historic because it is the first time that a non-Le Pen has commanded the legend that has become the second political force in the country. In this year’s presidential elections, Le Pen and Réunion Nacional went to the second round against Emmanuel Macron for the second time — they lost both times.

But, in addition to the margin of defeat being smaller now compared to four years ago, the party now has the second largest bench in the National Assembly. Created under the name Front National in 1972 by Jean-Marie Le Pen, who ran for the French Presidency five times until 2011, Réunion National saw its leadership passed after 39 years to the daughter of its founder, Marine.

To pave the way for the next presidential elections, in 2027, she chose to focus on legislative work, ceding the leadership of the party. This is where Bardella, interim president in recent months, comes in.

“She is the political leader and I am the general of her army,” the young man said in a recent interview with Reuters. “I take care of Europe while she takes care of France.” Bardella was referring to the fact that, until now, he had acted in the interests of the party as a MEP in Brussels. But that has changed in the last few days.

On Saturday, he won the de facto presidency, with 84% of the vote against Louis Aliot, a strong name in the legend and Le Pen’s companion for ten years – they lived together from 2009 to 2019. In a party so linked to the same family, the Bardella’s rise could be seen as surprising. That’s not what happens, as his girlfriend, Nolwenn Olivier, is Marine’s niece and Jean-Marie’s granddaughter.

But it is not only in this aspect that Bardella fits perfectly into the National Reunion. His ideas began to form in 2012, when, at the age of 16, he entered the acronym “more because of Marine Le Pen than the party”. He rose through the organization until, five years later, he became an MEP.

In the campaign for office, he demonstrated that his convictions are not as watertight as those of the old guard conservative. He said one of the biggest challenges of his generation was the climate crisis, despite criticizing what he sees as too many environment-related punishments in Macron’s government.

It opposes same-sex marriage, although it accepts the fact that the law allowing it was assimilated by the French. He also declared himself in favor of the use of cannabis, but only for medical use.

On the other hand, its immigration policy is simple and retrograde: it advocates cutting off all social services for any undocumented migrants. In his view, services to the French would also be reduced, and state authority hardened. Of Italian descent, Bardella has also propagated the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which says elites are behind a plan to gradually replace Europe’s white Christians with black Muslims.

In a recent case, when a socialist and Muslim politician was re-elected in a village, he said that the village was an “Islamic republic”. Bardella had to answer in court. In another episode, he declared support for the radical group Geração Identidade after the organization was dissolved by the government.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the group promoted “ideology that incites discrimination against people outside the French nation and preaches hatred and violence against foreigners, by presenting immigration and Islam as threats against which the French must fight.” , as well as purposely blurring the difference between Muslims and terrorists”.

For some analysts, if Le Pen does not win in 2027, he will be the natural successor in the party for 2032. For his followers, Bardella will be president. Keep that name well. You will still hear about him.