France's right wing is moving forward at a rapid pace – and the far-right party National Rally is on track to form an alliance with the traditional right. However, cooperation with the even more extreme Éric Zemmour's party is ruled out.
The announcement comes from Marine Le Pen's niece, Marion Maréchal, granddaughter of National Rally's (RN) far-right founder Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Maréchal switched parties ahead of France's 2022 presidential election and joined forces with radical Éric Zemmour, who has been convicted multiple times for inciting racist hatred, and his party Reconquest.
After RN's landslide victory in last week's European Championship election, the party's leader Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen, in addition to sounding out other right-wing leaders, met with Marion Maréchal – who on Tuesday afternoon announced that the two RN leaders had "changed position".
In a statement, Maréchal writes that RN "rejects the very principle of an agreement" between the two parties.
"Despite my negotiation attempts, the regrettable arguments put forward were that they did not want any direct or indirect link with Éric Zemmour", Maréchal writes.
Bardella confirms in an interview with French channel France 2 on Tuesday evening that the discussions between the two parties "have not been successful" and that the conditions for an agreement no longer exist.
