Bardella’s denial is one thing; the National Rally’s past is another

France has managed to produce another political row with all the familiar ingredients: a damaging report, a furious denial and a party that would very much prefer history to behave itself. Mediapart said on Monday that Jordan Bardella, now one of the National Rally’s leading figures and a close ally of Marine Le Pen, made antisemitic and conspiratorial remarks in private conversations between 2013 and 2015.

The chronology is awkward for Bardella, if not exactly flattering for the party around him. He turned 18 on 13 September 2013 and went on to become the National Front’s departmental secretary in Seine-Saint-Denis a year later. According to Mediapart, the exchanges it examined also included further comments pushing conspiracy theories aimed at Jewish political figures or people thought to be linked to Israel.

Bardella has rejected the allegations in the usual modern style: not with measured explanation, but with total dismissal. On X, he said the claims were blatant fabrications and insisted that Mediapart had attributed to him delusional and antisemitic remarks allegedly made while he was still a minor. He also said he had instructed a lawyer to take all necessary legal action against the outlet.

Mediapart says the story rests on more than a single source and a loud headline. Edwy Plenel, one of the outlet’s cofounders, said the report resulted from several months of investigation and was based on dozens of written conversations that had been independently verified, along with additional evidence and witness accounts. The material cited by the outlet includes remarks about Jews dominating and crushing other peoples, and about a new world order dominated by Israel with Jerusalem as its capital.

Marine Le Pen, faithful to the party’s instinct for closing ranks, has come to Bardella’s defence. While visiting a construction trade fair in Paris, she said she could not believe such nonsense and accused Mediapart of dirty tricks and smear campaigns. That may soothe supporters for the moment, but it does not change the larger problem: the National Rally has spent years trying to distance itself from the legacy of Jean-Marie Le Pen, whose antisemitic remarks still shadow the party.

Bardella’s rise has been central to that effort to look more presentable, more governable, more fit for office. Yet the old baggage keeps resurfacing, because political rebranding has its limits. A party can change its logo, its vocabulary and its frontman; it cannot so easily erase the record that keeps coming back to collect interest.

Written by Thorben Thiede thorben.thiede@alpineweekly.com