National Rally's 30-year-old president is courting France's corporate elite as Marine Le Pen leads presidential polls, testing whether the far-right party can finally break the political firewall that has kept it out of power for decades.
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Bardella courts French CEOs as National Rally polls 35%
National Rally's 30-year-old president is courting France's corporate elite as Marine Le Pen leads presidential polls, testing whether the far-right party can finally break the political firewall that has kept it out of power for decades.
Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old president of France's far-right National Rally, met a dozen of the country's top business lobbyists in late April as Marine Le Pen leads presidential polls with the party at 35 percent.
"The National Rally is clearly pursuing a strategy of de-demonization, a quest for legitimacy from business circles," said Pascal Demurger, chief executive of French insurer MAIF, who has refused to meet with Bardella.
The outreach marks a dramatic pivot for a party that has long defined itself in opposition to the establishment. National Rally now holds 122 of 577 seats in the National Assembly — more than any other single party — after going from a handful of seats in prior cycles. Le Pen has pledged to appoint Bardella as prime minister if elected, and the party's rise has forced corporate leaders to reconsider decades of shunning its representatives.
The stakes are high for French markets. Le Pen has championed tax increases on windfall corporate profits, the nationalization of the highway system, and a rollback of Macron's pension overhaul from age 64 to 62. Business leaders worry such measures could discourage foreign investment and widen France's budget deficit, potentially repricing French political risk across European equities.
Cordon Sanitaire Cracks as Party Holds 122 Seats
For many executives at the Medef lunch, the meal marked the first face-to-face encounter with Bardella — or any National Rally leader. The party's founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was an outcast for his racist and antisemitic rhetoric, and his daughter Marine cemented the divide by championing protectionism and state intervention in the economy.
Patrick Martin, president of the Medef business lobby that organized the lunch, said National Rally's rise in the polls had earned it a place at the table. "Medef isn't responsible for giving National Rally 35 percent or more of the electorate," Martin said. "This is a recognized party. We're in a democracy."
Bardella sought to reassure executives that National Rally was no longer hostile to big business. "I believe in entrepreneurial freedom," he told the gathering, according to a participant.
The courtship extends beyond boardrooms. In April, Bardella went public with his relationship with Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a 23-year-old Italian princess and social-media influencer. A stroll they took on Corsica made the cover of Paris Match, and in June he was photographed sipping wine alongside her in a VIP box at the Monaco Grand Prix.
"His appearance in Monaco alongside the princess is a calculated move, aimed at winning over the votes of the bourgeois right, who don't vote for the National Rally," said Sébastien Martin, French Industry Minister and a member of the conservative Les Républicains party. "But he risks alienating the working-class supporters who form the National Rally's core electorate."
Pension Rollback to 62 Looms as Le Pen Courts Skeptical Executives
Le Pen's own outreach has hit friction. In April, she dined with Entreprise et Cité, an elite business club, where Bernard Arnault, the luxury magnate and France's richest man, Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, and Catherine MacGregor, CEO of Engie, were among those at the table.
The meal turned frosty when executives raised the possibility of a flat tax to narrow France's deficit. Le Pen recoiled at the idea, which would spread fiscal pain to the middle-class and working-class voters who form her base. She continued to advocate for significant state intervention in the economy, according to an attendee who said he wasn't impressed with her message.
With Le Pen struggling to gain traction with elites, she has deployed Bardella as the business-friendly face of the party. He is clean-cut and invariably dons the same uniform as corporate France: a dark tie, dark suit, and crisp white shirt — even during his island stroll with the princess.
Business leaders who have interacted privately with Bardella say he has revealed little about his economic approach, leaving many to wonder if there is really any daylight between him and Le Pen. On pensions, Bardella has shifted his position: "The age of retirement doesn't mean anything," he said in a TV interview in May. "I think we'd be better off by simplifying things and building a system based on the number of years worked."
The pension question is central to France's fiscal trajectory. Macron's overhaul, which raised the retirement age to 64, was designed to save billions in pension payments. Rolling it back to 62 — as Le Pen proposes — would reopen that gap at a time when France's public finances are already under strain.
If Le Pen wins the presidency next spring, the market impact could be significant. French equities and the euro would face pressure from protectionist policies and fiscal expansion, while the last time Le Pen reached a presidential runoff in 2017, her proposal to exit the euro spooked voters and markets alike. The party's current strategy of courting business leaders suggests it is trying to avoid a repeat of that outcome.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
