"I don't think you know her, she's from Mayenne and she's going to win, her name is Valérie Hayer," chanted the "ambiance team" of President Emmanuel Macron's supporters, as Hayer took the stage on Saturday, March 9 in Lille. But despite the victorious slogans, nobody really seemed to believe that the member of the European Parliament, whom Macron picked to spearhead the ruling coalition's European elections campaign, can win on June 9.
The mood in Lille's Grand Palais was gloomy. "Objectively, it's complicated," admitted Isabelle, 53, a Renaissance supporter from Paris and a tax expert by profession. "If we come second by a small margin, it'll be pretty good." Khalida, a 53-year-old police officer, said she was worried about a lack of enthusiasm. "I have the impression that we're stunned," she sighed. "It's a campaign of fear." In a pre-recorded speech broadcast on a giant screen, Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné, who is also the head of Renaissance, expressed concern that "the spirit of defeat is prevailing." "It's up to us to trigger an awakening," he warned. "Let's not let the opinion polls decide for us."
To sound the alarm, the coalition's heavyweights focused on a single theme: the threat posed by Vladimir Putin to the European Union, and the Trojan horse posed by far-right parties across the continent, first and foremost Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National (RN) in France.
In front of 3,000 people and 29 ministers, they attacked Le Pen's complacency toward the Kremlin, drawing parallels with the 1930s. "Yesterday Daladier and Chamberlain, today Le Pen and Orban," said Hayer, referring to the French and British leaders who signed the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler in 1938.
Before her, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal accused the Rassemblement National of "siding with Russia" in "attempts to destabilize" Europe. Le Pen and RN President Jordan Bardella "have always said no" to Europe, said Attal. "The only difference is that they hide it a little and that now, the 'no' is pronounced 'niet.'" In the room, Renaissance supporters waved two Ukrainian flags.
When Attal wasn't attacking Le Pen for her complacency toward Putin, it was for her "covert Frexit" project or her record in the European Parliament. "Today, a French person sees more of the Rassemblement National by flipping on their TV for an hour, than a MEP by spending five years in the chamber of the European Parliament!" slammed Attal.
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