Paris France.- Jordan Bardella, the leader of the far-right National Rally who could become France’s next prime minister, has repeated the same basic promises since calls were made for a hasty election in France.
If his party becomes part of the country’s government, he says it will significantly reduce immigration and taxes and impose strict measures against crime.
However, the National Rally is the heir to a political tradition in France associated with blatant racism, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, and although the party has distanced itself from the past, some basic philosophies remain embedded in its policies: immigrants represent a threat to France’s security, economy and national identity.
Among Bardella’s plans are to remove the automatic right to acquire French citizenship at the age of 18 for children born in France to non-French parents, end free medical treatment for undocumented people except in emergencies and restrict citizens with a second passport from holding jobs deemed sensitive, such as managing a nuclear plant and working in “strategic defense.”
He also wants to bar convicted felons from living in public housing and cut the country’s sales tax on all forms of energy, from fuel to electricity.
It’s not clear how he’ll do all those things.
The party’s 21-page program, featuring photos and charts, is packed with general ideas but provides few details on how to implement them.
In the last three weeks of a furious campaign and debates, Bardella has backed out of some commitments or put them off until later.
Even some measures that have consistently remained in his plans — such as removing some automatic citizenship rights — and which he wants to put into effect immediately are likely to face opposition from President Emmanuel Macron and the country’s Constitutional Council.
But it is also unclear whether Bardella, 28, will become France’s next prime minister.
His party and its allies won 33 percent of the popular vote for the 577-seat National Rally in the first of two rounds of voting on Sunday.
But only 38 of their candidates won their seats. Most of the rest face a decisive second vote next Sunday, while a national movement has formed across the country to prevent them from obtaining an absolute majority.
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