Europe

How Marine Le Pen fell out with the German far right

Trip to tropical island brings National Rally to brink of break-up with Alternative for Germany

Marine Le Pen meeting locals at the 'carrefour de Ngwezi' near Chirongui during her visit to the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte in April. Photograph: Ali Al-Daher/AFP via Getty Images

Guy Chazan in Berlin and Leila Abboud in Paris
Sun May 5 2024 - 11:00

The tropical island of Mayotte seems a million miles away from European politics. But last month it triggered a row that has deepened the rift between two of the European Union’s largest far-right parties.

The dispute was caused after Alternative for Germany (AfD) suggested that France should hand over control of its impoverished overseas department to the neighbouring Union of the Comoros.

The AfD said it meant to compare the EU’s unwillingness to recognise independence referendums in the Russian-occupied parts of eastern Ukraine with its acceptance of similar plebiscites in the island nation, where locals have repeatedly voted to remain part of France.

But Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally), who was visiting Mayotte at the time, reacted with fury.

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The AfD “would do better to deal with Germany’s problems”, she said, adding she intended to give her allies “a few lessons in geopolitics”.

The spat was just the latest in a series of contretemps between the RN and the AfD. While they are allies in the European Parliament and espouse similar positions against immigration, the two parties have become increasingly estranged in the run-up to next month’s EU elections.

Now, senior members of Le Pen’s party are openly discussing whether to dump their German allies over concerns they have become too extreme.

“I am among those who think that if they [the AfD] are going in a crazy direction, then we should split,” said Renaud Labaye, secretary general of the RN group in the French parliament.

Asked about the AfD’s view on Mayotte, Louis Aliot, the RN’s vice-president, told TF1 television: “They were allies in the last parliament. We will see if they are in the next one.”

Le Pen has spent a decade seeking to “detoxify” the political movement founded by her father in an effort to win the presidency. Meanwhile, the AfD has shifted conspicuously to the right.

“The populist right parties in Europe want to be seen as respectable, credible, legitimate, and they feel the AfD just aren’t there,” said Simon Hix, professor of politics at the European University Institute in Florence. “For them, the AfD is becoming a poisoned chalice.”

[ Who is Jordan Bardella, the young face of the French far right? ]

Le Pen’s tactics have included scrapping the party’s old name, the Front National, focusing on the working class and dropping the idea that France should leave the EU. Electorally it has paid off, helping RN win an unprecedented 88 seats in the French parliament in 2022, although she has failed three times to win the presidency.

In contrast, the AfD, which was founded in 2013 by Eurosceptic economists opposed to the euro-zone bailouts, is now dominated by ethno-nationalists who argue Germany should quit the EU.

It has also become mired in scandal. Last month, a European Parliament staffer working for Maximilian Krah, an AfD MEP, was arrested on charges of spying for China.

Krah had already ruffled feathers by supporting Le Pen’s rival Éric Zemmour in the last French presidential election. There was also horror in the RN in 2019 when Krah hired a French staffer who had been expelled from the RN over anti-Semitic photographs.

Yet Krah remains the leading candidate for the AfD in the EU elections. Next on the party’s candidate list is Petr Bystron, who is also in trouble. He was questioned last month over claims he took money from a pro-Kremlin oligarch running a Russian influence campaign in Europe. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The RN and AfD both belong to the far-right “Identity and Democracy” group in the EU parliament. Yet some observers think that may change after the election.

“Marine wants to be French president, and her chances are pretty good for 2027,” said one former senior AfD official. “Why would she want a bunch of German neo-Nazis like an albatross round her neck?”

Concerns in the RN about the AfD peaked in January when it was reported that AfD MPs and functionaries had met a notorious white supremacist to discuss how to deport hundreds of thousands of people with immigrant backgrounds, including those with German passports – a scheme they euphemistically called “remigration”.

Within the RN, targeting citizens for deportation was seen as a step too far. “My view is that we are a huge contrast to the AfD,” Le Pen said at the time.

“We have made an effort in France to normalise our party and to stop unnecessary provocations,” said Labaye. “So it’s not in our interest to have allies that are doing such things.”

RN politicians are leaving their options open about potential alliances after the June election. They will probably emerge in a stronger position since the party now holds a commanding 15 point lead over Macron’s centrist list. The AfD should also do well – it is polling at around 16 per cent, about five points higher than the last election in 2019.

“The European Parliament will see new equilibriums and no one can predict what the power dynamics and majorities will look like,” said Alexandre Loubet, an RN MP in charge of the campaign. “Nothing is being ruled out.”

But for many, a rupture is now inevitable. “I’m convinced there will be no place for the AfD in the ID after the election,” said one AfD MEP.

That could lead to a broader shake-up of far-right parties. Hix said Le Pen might seek to drop the AfD and team up instead with Fidesz, led by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, which is now unaffiliated, and Poland’s former ruling Law and Justice party, currently in a different group.

The AfD would then find itself on the outside. “The RN and the others could say – ‘at least we’re not the AfD’,” Hix said. “They’ll say: ‘Those guys are real extremists. Look how moderate we are in comparison’.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024

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