The French language is full of pitfalls. For example, using the present indicative tense instead of the conditional can convey significant implications. That's why the following message, posted on social media by Jordan Bardella, five hours after Marine Le Pen was convicted and banned from running for office, raised a few eyebrows: "The provisional execution [the immediate effectivess] of Marine Le Pen's sentence, which prevents her from being a candidate in 2027, is a democratic scandal."

Bardella, the president of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), seemed not to take into account the possibility that she could have the ban overturned on appeal. And Le Pen took notice.

It goes to show just how much the prospect of Le Pen's disqualification from the 2027 presidential election remains a taboo subject within the RN. And how closely Bardella's statements will be monitored from now until 2027. This supervision will last until all possibilities for the party's "natural candidate" to run are exhausted.

Within the RN, everyone agreed "Plan B" stood for Bardella – until it became a likely option. Le Pen herself had acknowledged it, when speaking, ahead of the prosecution's closing statements, at the launch of Bardella's book: "Even if you manage to get rid of Marine, you won't be able get rid of Jordan!" she joked with a few journalists, back when she sincerely thought that the possibility was unimaginable. The prospect no longer seems to amuse her.

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