French far-right government team ready

The French far-right nationalist party, the National Rally (RN), already has a team of ministers and is ready to take over the government, according to its former leader Marine Le Pen.

“This government will be complete, it will be competent, it will be made up of people from the National Rally, people who campaigned with us and people from civil society,” declared Ms Marine Le Pen in an interview given Tuesday to the public channel France Inter.

The 55-year-old nationalist politician was responding to allegations that her party does not have enough qualified personnel to govern.

Marine Le Pen has said she does not want to take part in a government herself but is prepared to take over the presidency of the parliamentary group in the National Assembly.

The RN wants to govern with a clear majority in Parliament, Marine Le Pen said. “We cannot agree to enter government if we cannot act,” she stressed. “We want to govern so that things are clear.”

If there were not enough seats for a majority, her party would persuade conservative MPs and other parties to join the government, Le Pen said.

She accused the president Emmanuel Macron to try to block the RN in the second round of next Sunday’s election by strategically withdrawing candidates in the constituencies.

Macron “is doing everything he can today to try to thwart the democratic process,” Le Pen said.

After the early legislative elections, Marine Le Pen hopes for an early presidential election “as soon as possible” in order to advance the political reorganization to which her party aspires.

If Macron resigns, the RN “would enter this presidential battle with great enthusiasm,” she said. The next presidential election is not scheduled before 2027.