“Xavier Bertrand and Emmanuel Macron are not different on anything” assures Sébastien Chenu, head of the RN list

Impossible to miss it. It is in a blue bus where his face appears in large alongside Marine Le Pen that Sebastien Chenu decided to campaign for the regional ones. For several weeks, the head of the RN list in Hauts-de-France has been meeting the inhabitants to make himself known but also to continue to anchor his party.

In 2015, Marine Le Pen had come largely in the lead of the first round (40, 64%) before bowing against Xavier Bertrand supported by all the left in a republican front. Six years later, Sébastien Chenu, spokesperson for the RN and deputy for the 19th district of the North, has taken up the torch and hopes to create a sensation as he explains in an interview with 20 minutes.

How do you campaign in such a worrying health context?

By definition, this campaign is different. We were imaginative in making this bus which allows us to send a message of mobilization throughout the territory to compensate for the lack of tours of traders or markets today in half-gauge. On the other hand, we can always distribute leaflets at the exits of factories, stations or markets. Moreover I note that for the moment, we have not yet crossed our adversaries on the ground.

With Covid-19, do people really have their minds in regional elections?

Clearly, people are mostly concerned about two things: their health and their jobs. I do not see any interest in the regional campaign yet, but information is starting to circulate. People understood that there was an election meeting in June. But for the mobilization, it is something else. On the other hand, I feel an extremely strong rejection of Emmanuel Macron and the policies he leads. It is a violence! There is a will to go and put a slap in the face of power.

Your main opponent in the region will be Xavier Bertrand, the outgoing president. What do you think of its record?

I’m not making it a man’s question. My adversary is the political system which has governed the destinies of the region for so many years. Xavier Bertrand and Emmanuel Macron are not different on anything. They make the same policies. Before it was the UMPS. Today, Macron and Bertrand are the same. They agree on everything: the reform of the Labor Code, unemployment insurance, the abolition of the ISF… Nothing fundamentally differentiates them.

In his majority, Xavier Bertrand has elected LREM. As for its record, it must be noted that there was no Bertrand effect in the region. Indicators in terms of health, employment and deindustrialisation remain red. Where is the money that the region gave to Bridgestone which is closing its doors? We want a regional policy different from national policy.

What would you do if you became president of the region?

I have already chosen as the slogan “A region that protects you” because I consider that communities must be a shield to protect the inhabitants. We must protect our identity, our security, our economy, our environment. We must make choices of rupture. We must not use the money of the inhabitants of Hauts-de-France to support companies that relocate or do not maintain jobs in the region.

We must also protect our identity by stopping paying subsidies to structures that have a link, directly or indirectly, with Islamism. Territorial equipment will also be rebalanced. It is enough to concentrate everything on the metropolis of Lille. We must turn to more rurality. Finally, on the environment, I will wage a war against wind turbines because I consider that it is an ecological scam that damages the landscape and kills jobs. I will hold a regional referendum by proposing a moratorium on the subject.

The RN experienced a lot of internal strife for six years in the region. Why would it be better now?

Because we learn from our mistakes and the casting choices that were made. There was a lot of dissension when Florian Philippot left the party accompanied by people who decided to have personal adventures. I don’t believe they made the right choice. And then I’m going to make an opening list with people who are consistent in their ideas, with the same vision of things. Finally, my goal is to lead the region. I don’t have any insincerity when I sign up. While Xavier Bertrand’s plan is to go to the presidential elections. It gives us a good leg in the region. People need to be respected. We’re not the Republican primary, we’re not a doormat. This campaign is very political, people can send a very strong message. In any case, we are ready.

With a strong RN, an offbeat candidate for the Elysee and a united left, do these regional in Hauts-de-France foreshadow the presidential election of 2022?

It’s a bit like the aperitif of the presidential elections with the opportunity to change policy. Xavier Bertrand, it’s the old system. He tells us that he does not communicate while he is coached from morning to night. No one is fooled by anything. As for the left, it makes an attempt at union with difficulty. The proof is that all this has already been deconstructed for the departmental in Pas-de-Calais. It is a front union no doubt to be forgiven for having cuckolded his voters by calling for Xavier Bertrand to vote against Marine Le Pen in 2015.

Do you think that a Republican front of your opponents against the RN is still possible in the second round?

They are capable of anything. I don’t fear anything. For me, there is neither a glass ceiling nor a Republican front. All this exists for those who still want to believe in it. The reality is that all of this tumbled a long time ago. But a system that wants to protect its interests is ready for anything. Nothing will surprise me in this campaign facing a rotten old system trying to save its skin.

You are much less well known than Marine Le Pen who was head of the list in Hauts-de-France in 2015. Is that a handicap?

No. If notoriety was a determining factor in a regional election then Marine Le Pen, like Marion Maréchal and Florian Philippot would have been elected to the 2015 regional elections. Besides, who is able to quote the names of the presidents of the regions? You don’t elect a star. I do not have the media surface of Marine Le Pen so it is possible that I will not score the same as her in the first round. On the other hand, it is just as possible that I will not mobilize as much against me in the second round. The issue is not the same as in 2015.

After being a member of the UMP where you created the Gaylib movement, you decided to join the RN in 2014. Why?

Already, I specify that I am not a gay activist but a political activist who assumed to support marriage for all against the position of the UMP at the time. I decided to break with this party in 2014 because I understood that we were being sold alternations which were only intended to fool the voters. Their goal was only to perpetuate a political system based on interpersonal skills, liberalism and European submission. I didn’t recognize myself in there anymore. And the day I started speaking like Marine Le Pen, I joined Marine Le Pen, it’s that simple.

At the risk of losing 75% of your friends as you said at the time?

Yes, it was violent. But it’s funny, I’ve seen a lot of it come back over the years. Others also admitted to being unfair to me. The only thing I regret is not having joined Marine Le Pen earlier. I feel much more coherent in a political movement that has long transcended the left-right divide.