Marine Le Pen’s niece starts own party: What it means for French far-right

The niece of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has established her own political party in an effort to bolster the nation’s expanding right-wing bloc.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday, Marion Marechal, 34, announced the launch of Identite-Libertes (Identity-Freedoms) – or IDL – of which she is president.

She cited the right-wing alliance of parties, which came close to winning the French elections by placing first among the main three political alliances in the first round of voting on June 30 as the “I decided to launch a political movement to contribute to the victory of the national camp.”

A hamstrung National Assembly resulted from the central and leftist blocs joining forces to selectively withdraw candidates in a number of areas to prevent the right-wing from capturing a majority in the second round.

National Rally, the far-right party originally called National Front and founded by Marechal’s grandfather, Jean-Marie Le Pen, itself bagged more than 31 percent of the vote in the National Assembly elections at the end of June, becoming France’s largest party by vote share.

Marechal stated that IDL will work with Le Pen to support his presidential bid in the 2027 election despite being ideologically distinct from National Rally.

Marechal stated that “my goal is to work in a coalition with Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, and Eric Ciotti.” Le Pen is currently the National Rally’s president, and Ciotti is its right-wing party’s leader in France.

Marion Marechal, aged 5 (third from left), holds the hands of her grandfather, the French far right-wing and nationalist politician Jean-Marie Le Pen at the annual demonstration of the political party he founded, the National Front (Front National – FN), and his wife, Jany, in Paris on May 1, 1995. On the far right are her mother, Yann Le Pen, and her adoptive father, Samuel Marechal. Marine Le Pen is to the right of her father]Yves Forestier/Sygma via Getty Images]

Who is Marion Marechal?

Marion Jeanne Caroline Marechal is Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the National Front, which is now known as the National Rally, and Marion Jeanne Marechal’s granddaughter. Marechal married Italian politician Vincenzo Sofo in 2021 and the couple have one daughter, Clotilde. Marechal also has a daughter that was older than her 2016 divorce from Frenchman Matthieu Decosse.

Marechal was formerly a National Rally party member. When she was elected a member of the National Rally in 2012 at the age of 22, she became the youngest member of the French Assembly in history.

In 2017, she did not seek re-election, however, and also resigned as a regional councillor, before returning to politics in 2022 to join the ranks of Eric Zemmour’s far-right party, Reconquete.

In a break from her family, in 2018 Marechal announced she was changing her name from Marion Marechal-Le Pen, dropping the surname of her grandfather Jean-Marie, known for inflammatory views on immigration and the Holocaust. She now only uses Samuel, her adopted father, who has participated in the National Rally since he was a young child. He married Marechal’s mother, Yann Le Pen – sister of Marine.

In the June 2024 legislative election, Marechal headed Reconquete’s list for the European Parliament. She accused Zemmour of putting too many conditions on any potential alliance and preventing it by negotiating with the National Rally to create a single list of candidates for election.

Marechal was elected to the European Parliament on June 9, 2024 and joined the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, a centre-right political group within the parliament. Days later, Zemmour accused Marechal of “betrayal” and expelled her from the party on June 12. Marechal said she would serve as an independent.

Marion Marechal, then the lead candidate for the French far-right party Reconquete at June’s European Parliament elections (R), and her husband, Italian politician Vincenzo Sofo (L), at the party’s European election campaign launch meeting at the Dome de Paris – Palais des Sports in Paris on March 10, 2024]Adnan Farzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

What is the mission of her new party?

The name of the party – Identité-Libertés (Identity-Freedoms) – sums up its two main policy “pillars”. On the one hand, the party says it aims to defend French identity from immigration and what it calls “Islamisation” as well as to promote France’s Christian heritage. On the other, it seeks to protect freedom of expression and free enterprise.

Marechal predicted that the IDL would abandon the “mental socialism” that governs French fiscal policies.

It would also be “anti-woke”, the term “woke” coming from African-American vernacular to describe someone who is aware of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism and denial of LGBTQ rights.

Marechal promised to work with the right-wing bloc in 2022 as the country’s first female prime minister, drawing inspiration from other European success stories, particularly Italy, where Giorgia Meloni led a coalition of three right-wing parties.

Marechal claimed that Zemmour’s split came as he made Le Pen’s National Rally and Ciotti’s Republican Party her principal adversaries while she vowed to form a coalition that would strengthen the left-wing bloc.

“To remain coherent, I could not follow]his] decision”, she said.

The two Le Pen heirs have long been engaged in conflict, especially since Marine Le Pen expelled her father from the party in 2015 after he reiterated that the Holocaust was “a detail of history,” despite her proclamation that she supports her aunt. Marechal called the expulsion a “cruel betrayal”.

Marechal and Le Pen disagree over forming a stronger alliance between centrist parties and the right/far-right, which they both support.

Does the National Rally face a threat from IDL?

Le Pen and other party officials are currently facing charges of allegedly espionage European Union funds, and a new party was created. If found guilty, Le Pen and her co-defendants could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to 1 million euros ($1.1m) each.

Le Pen stated to reporters last month that she was confident that there would be proof that there had not been any wrongdoing when she arrived at the criminal tribunal in Paris.

The National Rally won’t be significantly harmed by the IDL, according to observers.

Posting on X, some of Zemmour’s supporters have predicted Marechal’s party will become a “satellite” of the National Rally. Some have warned about the possibility of a significant fragmentation in the right-wing camp if they continue to form a bloc.

According to Daniel Stockemer, a professor in the University of Ottawa’s department of political studies, the IDL would not be a viable political form.

“This attempt from Marion Marechal is more a sign of desperation”, Stockemer, whose research focuses on radical right-wing parties in Europe, said. She believed that starting a party on her own would be the only way to continue her political activism.