Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, François Asselineau and Florian Philippot are all in the same boat, but not everyone has been rowing in the same direction. Having climbed aboard it to leave the shores of the European Union, they have picked up opponents to France's Covid-era "vaccine pass" along the way, as well as a few of the Kremlin's mouthpieces in France. The three leaders of minor far-right parties seem to agree on the evils of the European Commission, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Covid-19 vaccination – but they haven't been able to agree on saying it together.
For the June 9 European elections, Asselineau (Union Pour la République, UPR) will run on his own, Philippot (Les Patriotes) has announced a draft list of candidates, and Dupont-Aignan (Debout la France, DLF) has so far remained tight-lipped. Negotiations between the latter two have made good headway, but attempts to win over well-known figures such as former presidential candidate Jean Lassalle and pundit Michel Onfray have failed – Lassalle will instead lead the Alliance Rurale, put together by the head of France's hunting lobby.
The latest poll by Ipsos for Le Monde, the Cevipof, Fondation Jean Jaurès and Institut Montaigne, published on March 11, shows Dupont-Aignan as having 2-3% of voting intentions, while Philippot and Asselineau stand at just half a point each. The minimum threshold of votes for parties to have their campaign funds reimbursed is set at 3% in France, and the threshold to have candidates elected to the European Parliament is 5%. In 2019, the total score of the three parties added together was 5.3%.
Proponents of Frexit have been looking at other polls, and one in particular: Carried out in February by the Destin Commun institute, it estimated that a third of French people are in favor of leaving the European Union. The Ipsos poll, meanwhile, said that a quarter of those surveyed would feel "great relief" if the Union collapsed. "With no major party supporting Frexit, this is quite something!" said an enthusiastic Philippot. "French society is grappling with this issue, and the agricultural crisis has pushed the subject forward, as has the energy crisis." The former second-in-command of Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National (RN, far-right) party has reveled in the "total renunciation" of a Frexit by the RN, which is quick to dispel accusations of supporting such a move.
The three Frexiteers have also been focused on other figures: Those at the bottom of their videos or at the top of their X accounts. Disregarded by the media, the trio has relied on algorithms and videos with eye-catching titles to spread their messages laced with hints of conspiracy theories; or, alternatively, to support "peace" at the cost of Ukraine's capitulation.
You have 46.23% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.