The far-right of Le Pen will privatize the public TV and reduce immigration and VAT if it achieves the "absolute"
Jordan Bardella announces that undocumented immigrants will only receive emergency care but not treatments and that he will reduce immigration "drastically." He admonishes "multimillionaire" Mbappé for his "lessons".
18 June, 2024 10:09The candidate of the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen for Prime Minister in the legislative elections in France, Jordan Bardella, has warned this Tuesday that he will only form a Government if he has a "absolute majority" because only then he will be able to implement the proposed policies.
"I don't want power for the sake of power, for my personal glory, but to change politics," he said in an interview on Europe 1 and CNews, where he insisted that "to act, we will need an absolute majority".
Barbella, Le Pen's protege, has explained that without an absolute majority, he won't be able to implement his party's priorities: lowering VAT on fuels, gas, and electricity, privatizing French public television, or "drastically reducing immigration".
Furthermore, and to emphasize the situation, he stressed: "We are going to inherit a country that is almost financially bankrupt and is experiencing record levels of immigration and crime."
Facing this situation, he has framed the elections on June 30th and July 7th as a duel between his proposal, that of the National Rally with his partner, the president of The Republicans, Éric Ciotti, who has thus split from his party, and the left of the New Popular Front.
According to his analysis, "the choice is simple" between "plunging into chaos" with that "far-left" coalition that "has chosen insurrection" and "the responsible and reasonable break" he proposes.
In this regard, he has insisted that since he will "inherit a near bankruptcy situation," his task if he reaches the Government will be to "put public finances in order" and for that reason he will request an independent audit as he does not intend to engage in "political fiction".
Reducing aid to immigrants
Bardella has estimated the cost to public finances of lowering VAT (from the current rate of 20% to a reduced rate of 5.5%) for fuels, electricity, and gas at 12,000 million euros and intends to finance it with measures against social fraud, cutting aid to immigrants and reducing France's contribution to the European Union.
Regarding the latter point, he explained that "an irregular immigrant will not be able to benefit from the full range of healthcare". In other words, undocumented individuals will only receive emergency care.
Privatizing French public television
Regarding French public radio and television, Bardella has explained that privatizing it would save more than 3,000 million euros that could be used to finance other policies. However, he has made it clear that this measure would take time and "would not happen in 24 hours".
The public broadcaster France Télévisions, which includes four national television channels and 24 regional channels, is a key funder of films, series, and documentaries and is the main French media outlet.
Radio France has several national and local stations and dominates podcasting. Its public radio station, France Inter, is the most popular in France, with over 7 million daily listeners.
Reducing the contribution to the EU
Regarding the contribution to the European Union, he specified that he wants to cut it "a little," after noting that France contributes about 10,000 million euros.
He has criticized the EU for funding water supply to Palestinians in Gaza, when there are French citizens in Mayotte island, in the Indian Ocean, who do not have guaranteed supply.
Response to Mbappé
Bardella has responded to the calls from some athletes and, particularly, from the star of the French national football team Kylian Mbappé urging to vote against extremists.
« When you're a multimillionaire, you're walking around in a private jet, I'm a bit embarrassed to see these athletes giving lessons to people who earn 1400 € per month, who can't make ends meet »: Jordan #Bardella on Europe 1.
— Frontières (@Frontieresmedia) June 18, 2024
pic.twitter.com/nO19ItiWWA
"If they ask to vote against the extremists, I don't feel targeted," he said initially, before adding that while he has "a lot of respect" for those athletes, one must also "respect the vote of the French people".
Above all, he wanted to delegitimize them by saying that they are "delivering moral lessons" from positions of "multimillionaires".
"When you are a multimillionaire and travel in a private jet, I am a little ashamed to see these people giving lessons to individuals who earn 1,400 euros per month and cannot make ends meet," he said.
