Jordan Bardella sur NEWSMAX (USA) : « Le RN défend les intérêts de la France et des Français ! »

Most Americans don't understand the politics of France, and so let me start with some basics. What's the National Party?

I'm at the helm of the largest party in France, a political party, which has been the most voted for in 2024. And I believe that I am the voice for patriots, for people who want to preserve their country, and who think that France is a great country, that it still has a destiny ahead of it, and that it wants to stay France in the 21st century.

Would you describe your party, much like President Trump, and where we talk America first, is your party France first?

Oui, incontestablement. Yes, absolutely. With all patriotic parties in the world, we have differences, which are indisputable, and we have to respect those. Donald Trump is a patriotic politician who speaks for his country's interests. My political movement is also a patriotic movement, speaking for France's interests and the interests of French people who want to preserve their culture, their identity, their language, their lifestyle. We are opposed to mass immigration policies.

And from a trade and economy standpoint, we want to get back in touch with growth, whereas most left-wing and progressives in Europe want to slow down production for the sake of the environment and slow down our company's growth. So we are the expression of this patriotic movement.

The UK left the European Union, Brexit. Are you in favor of France being part of the European Union, or do you think France should leave it?

I'm not in favor of exiting the EU, but the EU, sometimes voluntarily, perhaps, is trying to get European nations out of sync with the world. Nowadays, France is sometimes crowded out by the EU's and very ambiguous voice. We saw that again in the Russia-UN conflict. And I am in favor of a Europe made of nations of cooperation between countries. We don't want to make the EU the United States of Europe, because we have national specificities. And I would like to see France better defend its interests within Europe, and get back to freedom, independence and autonomy, which has always been France's voice, including under General de Gaulle.

What do you see as France's role now about Ukraine and Russia? And how is that consistent or inconsistent with President Macron?

France is struggling to make its voice heard. And what hurts me as a French citizen is seeing that, unfortunately, this conflict is going to be settled between President Trump and President Putin. And France's voice is no longer heard in a conflict which is at the doorstep of Europe. Without any ambiguity, we have condemned the violation of Ukraine's territorial sovereignty. I'm pro-sovereignty, and I'm a patriot in France. And so I'm like that for every country in the world. And we cannot tolerate that a country on the doorstep of Europe suffer a violation of its territorial sovereignty. Then again, we have always been extremely vigilant. We don't want any any escalation with Russia.

Russia is a nuclear power. France is a nuclear power. And this means we need to settle this conflict not through fighting, but through negotiation. And for months now, we have been calling for France to initiate an international peace conference with all warring parties so that we can stop the fighting. We want peace, peace and peace again. I think that is the goal and the ambition that all parties to the war should have or including anybody who might

get involved in the negotiation. Generalizations are often not very accurate, but I am curious sort of what's the general view in France of the United States of the new Trump administration?

Well, several French journalists have asked me the same question. And what I feel is that is a good thing for France. Well, they asked me whether that was a good thing for France and for our compatriots. I told them that it is obviously a good thing for the people of the US, but perhaps not so great for France and Europe. We are faced with a leader who is defending his country's interests and their company and your diplomacy and the US people and the borders. And so what we see is that in France and in Europe, we are still living in the illusion of having to defend the interests of other countries. What I speak for is for France to stand up for its own interests.

I think that in the 21st century, the countries that will come out on top will be those that protect their domestic markets, that control their borders. And as French patriots, we are de facto the prime people to talk to in this new world we're living in. And so I want France to choose politicians who love it, who respect it, who esteem it, and who want to defend its interests first before anything else. And so Trump's election is is the people getting back in power. And I think that for the people of the US,

it's highly commendable. You know, it's interesting to sort of look at, you know, what's going on in the world. I mean, the United States obviously elected President Trump and things are moving more conservative here. And you see sort of a lot of that, that same thing in some European countries, like, like with you and with France.

We see a wind of freedom and patriotism blowing on all Western democracies. Because all Western democracies, despite some specificities and some differences, which speak to how diverse Western nations are, citizens and peoples don't want to disappear. They want to protect their identity, their values, their freedom of speech, they don't want to see their industries disappear, and they want to remain proud, upstanding people. And we are expressing this desire in France, but we see this in many European countries, including Italy with Georgia Maloney and Matteo Salvini. We saw it more recently in Austria. And it's also clear with polling in Germany. We saw that in Hungary with Viktor Orban.

So it's safe to say, in my opinion, that we are reconciling the people with politics and placing them back at the center of major political decisions. Peoples don't want to disappear. And we cannot stop a people with renewed hope. What is true is that nowadays, Trump is showing us that this can be done. He is defending his country's interests and demonstrating that in politics, it's not just about talking, you can actually take action. And this is a really exciting,

positive message for the entire Western world. One last question. Vice President Vance spoke at the Munich conference last week, a lot of Europeans felt they got scolded, or they didn't like his speech.

Well, yes, I listened to this speech with great interest by US Vice President J.D. Vance. Indeed, it's displeased a lot of European leaders. But many citizens, and some political movements, including my own, can only say he's right. Freedom of speech is being rolled back in Europe and in many European societies. And it feels like for Democrats and for the left, freedom of speech and democracy exist only as long as you agree with them. When it comes to immigration, and to identity, these issues have been ostracized from political debates for the past 30 years. And right now, one of the largest French TV outlets is being closed.

This was announced just a few hours ago by a regulatory authority, because supposedly, their opinions constitute an expression of pluralism and a and a departure from political correctness. So freedom of speech is on a downturn under the influence of left wing media, and also Islamism, and the progression of Islamist ideology, which is currently imposing its rules on all of French society. In France, now every other teacher is self censoring in classes, and some topics such as Israel are not being discussed in class. This is also the issue of European colonization in Africa, they don't talk about it because they don't want to trigger tensions.

So freedom of speech is receding, Europe is losing its values. And so I very much agree with the US Vice President, but we are resisting just like America resisted.