Jordan Bardella likes to describe the European Parliament as a mere rubber-stamping assembly. The chair of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party argues the legislature of which he is a member has only one role: to ratify the decisions made by the "technocrats in Brussels." And yet, within the Parliament, RN lawmakers outline their vision of the world through their votes.
The hundreds of decisions made by RN MEPs in Brussels and Strasbourg, analyzed by Le Monde, reveal an overview of how the far right positions itself in international relations: Support for authoritarian regimes, refusal to denounce the use of the death penalty or other abuses against political dissidents, disregard for cases of violations of fundamental freedoms. Their stance is all the more flexible given that the institution does not enjoy the same media coverage – and potential controversy – as the Assemblée Nationale in Paris.
During the legislative term ending in June (2019-2024), the RN's MEPs have only had to account for their unwavering defense of the Russian regime. President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has, indeed, exposed the RN's unwavering support for the Kremlin. Right up to the outbreak of war in February 2022, Bardella and his followers systematically voted against all measures against the Kremlin: From the condemnation of Russia's "foreign agents" law (December 19, 2019), to the resolution following the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny (September 17, 2020), and even the show of support for Russia's repressed civil society, particularly the human rights organization Memorial (December 16, 2021), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
Nevertheless, the attention paid to the conflict in Ukraine since its outbreak has not convinced the RN's members to fall in line with the opposition to Putin. Contrary to a large majority of those in the EU assembly, the French delegation of the Identity and Democracy parliamentary group has since preferred to abstain on most of the resolutions adopted in support of Kyiv; whether those expressing concern over "Russia's escalation of its war" (October 6, 2022), calling for the creation of a "tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine" (January 19, 2023), or pledging "unwavering EU support for Ukraine" (February 29, 2024).
The Russian regime has suffered no more reprobation from the RN than before, even when it came to acknowledging the "inhuman imprisonment conditions" that Navalny had endured (10 abstentions and one vote in opposition, on February 16, 2023). "It's not up to the EU to decide whether one state or another has done the right thing. Diplomacy, like the army and defense, is a national matter. (...) We have tried to stick to this principle throughout the [parliamentary] term," said Bardella, after the Russian opposition leader's death in custody was announced on February 16.
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