The leader of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, opened the new political year with a speech before some 3,000 people in Hénin-Beaumont, an emblematic city of her electoral journey in the deindustrialized north of France. The intervention took place on the same day that Jordan Bardella, the party's president, turned 31, having remained on stage in silence while the audience applauded the leader. Polls place Le Pen in the lead for vote intentions in the upcoming presidential elections.
In her speech, Le Pen stated that "the French will have priority in their home," emphasizing that the presidential election "will decide everything" and calling for a turnaround that leads to "the rebirth of France." The candidate focused the economic message on housing and the difficulties of the working classes, proposing the repeal of legislation requiring municipalities to maintain a 25 percent quota of social housing, and criticizing the ecological demands imposed on the construction sector, which according to her put the real estate market "in a recession spiral."
Le Pen also promised tax reductions and a lowering of the legal retirement age to address the loss of purchasing power. The leader evoked the impact of factory closures in the former mining basin of Pas-de-Calais and criticized former prime ministers Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal, pointing to them as responsible for current economic policies. In closing, she attacked the current political system, declaring that "one must confront this toxic system where everything is done to remain in power."
Externally, the National Rally sought to distance itself from Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD), publicly justifying the severance of relations with the German force due to radical positions and the relativization of historical events associated with Nazism. Le Pen's establishment in Hénin-Beaumont dates back to 2007, having been driven by Steeve Briois, current mayor who is serving his third consecutive term, in an effort to demonstrate that the party can manage local administration and project an image of institutional normality.