Marion Maréchal should formalize her rallying to Éric Zemmour, this Sunday, March 6, in Toulon. The Dispatch goes behind the scenes of this family and political betrayal.
It’s official, Marion Maréchal is going to Eric Zemmour’s meeting in Toulon this Sunday, March 6. She definitely turns her back on her aunt, Marine Le Pen. A painful family and political rupture.
22 years of family and political closeness
Marion Maréchal was born in 1989 in the family home of Saint-Cloud, in the Hauts de Seine. She grew up there, with her mother Yann Le Pen and her aunt Marine Le Pen, in her twenties. The candidate of the National Rally even participated in the delivery of her niece, as specified The Parisian.
Read also :
Presidential 2022: who is Marine Le Pen, candidate of the RN, in the race for the Elysée for the third time
In 2009, the young woman was 19 and entered politics: she placed second on the FN list for departmental elections in Yvelines. She does not hide her admiration for her aunt, declaring: “Marine has created a real craze. Thanks to her, many people who had some apprehension about Jean-Marie Le Pen are joining us.”
Very quickly, a rivalry will settle between the two women.
Two political lines: birth of a rivalry
In 2012, Marine Le Pen stood for the presidential election after having taken the helm of the party a year earlier. She comes third with nearly 18% of the vote. Her niece supports and helps the candidate during her campaign.
Marion Maréchal then becomes a candidate for the FN in the third constituency of Vaucluse. She was elected with 42.1% of the votes against the UMP and the PS.
She becomes the youngest MP in the history of the Republic, barely 22 years old. She takes a position within the party and assumes an identity and conservative position, when her aunt tries more to demonize the party.
Read also :
Presidential 2022: François Bayrou gives his sponsorship to Marine Le Pen… but “not with a cheerful heart”
One subject marks the divide: the issue of same-sex marriage. Marion Maréchal supports the Manif pour tous movement and even goes so far as to declare that she wants to reconsider the reimbursement of abortion.
Marine Le Pen then reframes her niece, she says in an interview with Current values that the latter “does not play collective enough”.
Second point of contention: the founder of the party, Jean-Marie Le Pen. His daughter Marine seeks to distance her father from the election and the party. Marion Maréchal then firmly defends her grandfather: “I cannot let it be said that the FN would exist without Jean-Marie Le Pen. To deny this heritage would be perfectly grotesque. We are all heirs of Jean-Marie Le Pen.” insists the young deputy in the Sunday newspaper in 2016.
However, she still shows her support for Marine Le Pen for the 2017 presidential election, even if her aunt is not convinced.
Marion Maréchal distances herself
First, from a political point of view. After the defeat of Marine Le Pen in the second round, Marion Maréchal announces that she is leaving “political life for a while to turn to the business world” and “devote herself to her family”. Her aunt does not hide her disappointment but “understands” as “mom”.
Then the granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen goes even further in symbolism: she abandons the surname Le Pen, explaining that she is returning “to civilian life by taking up this name which is no longer the political name which was mine”.
Read also :
Presidential 2022: a photo of Marine Le Pen with Vladimir Poutine on more than a million RN leaflets creates unease
Marion Maréchal wants to open a school of political science and propose an “alternative educational offer distinct from that which is based on the ambient intellectual conformism” with the Higher Institute of Economic and Political Sciences inaugurated in Lyon.
The image of Marine Le Pen plummets … Failed debate with Emmanuel Macron, departure of Florian Philippot, the FN candidate becomes the RN candidate. A choice to mark the change and give a breath of fresh air to his party.
In September 2019, Marion Maréchal participated in “the convention of the right”, alongside Éric Zemmour. The breakup is imminent, but the RN candidate remains sure of her niece’s support.
2021-2022: a fracture assumed
Éric Zemmour enters politics and announces his candidacy. Initially, Marion Maréchal refuses to decide. “Éric Zemmour is someone I know well and whom I appreciate, you know that. It’s no secret to anyone,” she said on the sidelines of a visit to Hungary, at the invitation of the manager. far-right Viktor Orban.
Read also :
Presidential 2022: Marion Maréchal about to join Eric Zemmour
The candidate of the “Reconquest” party multiplies the calls to recover his support. Marion Maréchal, reluctant at first to “recreate family ruptures”, finally assures that she will not support her aunt.
Marine Le Pen bitterly regrets this decision, which she describes as “incomprehensible”, “brutal” and “violent”. “Alongside the political aspect, there is also the personal aspect” declares the candidate on the set of CNews. The founder of the FN party, adds that this position taken by his granddaughter is “shocking”.
Read also :
DIRECT. Presidential 2022: Marion Maréchal should announce this Sunday her rallying to Éric Zemmour
Marion Maréchal should formalize her rallying to Éric Zemmour this Sunday in Toulouse. New fracture for the Le Pen family.