Le Pen accuses Macron of preparing a “coup” against his party

French nationalist right-wing leader Marine Le Pen on Tuesday (2) accused the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, of preparing a kind of “administrative coup” to prevent her party from having freedom of action if it comes to power, based on allegations that the leader will make dozens of last-minute appointments.

“I hope it’s just a rumor,” Le Pen said in an interview with the radio station France Interin which he noted that, in any case, at the last Council of Ministers last Wednesday there were more appointments than usual.

According to information obtained by Le Pen, Macron intends to appoint the director general of the police and gendarmerie, as well as “dozens of prefects” (government delegates) and other positions in the administration. “For people who give lessons in democracy to the whole world, I find this surprising,” he said.

According to Le Pen, after the “democratic impulse” he had in calling legislative elections early, after the defeat in the European elections on June 9, Macron is now “doing everything possible to hinder the democratic process”.

The candidates of Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), allied with a group of conservatives, were the big winners in the first round of legislative elections in France last Sunday, with 33% of the votes that put them in a position to have the majority group after the second round next Sunday (7) and even achieve an absolute majority.

This absolute majority, which implies reaching at least 289 of the 577 deputies, is the condition that his candidate for prime minister, Jordan Bardella, has set to govern, as his mentor recalled today: “It makes no sense for us to go to government if we cannot act.”

However, Le Pen has considered a scenario in which, if they obtain 270 seats, they will consult other deputies, such as those from the conservative party The Republicans, to see if they would be willing to support them on some legislative projects and, in particular, to approve the budget.

The right-wing leader reiterated that if her party comes to government she will not be part of the cabinet – “I will not be a second prime minister” – but will act as head of the parliamentary group.

In this sense, he highlighted that Bardella has already configured the government he would form and that the Ministry of Economy and Finance would be headed by someone who has experience with public finances and who has worked with companies.

Le Pen also repeated the idea that if they come to power they will respect the constitutional rules of coexistence with the President of the Republic and, in this sense, Bardella “will direct the policy for which we were elected”.

This will mean, for example, that some initiatives that Macron has spoken about in the past will not be implemented in foreign policy, such as sending military instructors to Ukrainian territory because “it is the prime minister who decides to send troops abroad”.

Le Pen reiterated that her party supports aid to Ukraine against the Russian invasion, but with two limits: sending troops to Ukrainian territory and delivering long-range weapons to avoid the risk of “escalation” and France going to war.