In contrast, Bardella’s ideological flexibility in matters of economic policy made him a threat to win conservative voters from Philippe and other right-wing candidates.
A real example is the positions of the two extreme right-wing political leaders on the controversial issue of retirement reform.
Le Pen officially supports lowering France’s minimum retirement age to 62, reversing President Emmanuel Macron’s 2023 reform, which set a gradual increase to 64. Bardella, however, had opened the door to changing his party’s position over concerns about the state of France’s public finances, with debt expected to rise from 203 percent of economic debt from 203 to 201 percent. according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
With Bardella now out of the race, Philippe’s party, Horizons, intends to attack Le Pen “due to the inconsistency and nonsense of the high-status platform that wants to roll back pension reform and make people believe they can work less,” said Valletoux.
Philippe, on the other hand, has floated the possibility of raising the retirement age even beyond Macron’s expected reforms. While the move is unlikely to be popular with the public, it could attract the type of voters Bardella has been trying to win over.
“A right-wing voter who values free trade and a prudent type of finance and budget will be less inclined to vote for Marine Le Pen (than Bardella). Edouard Philippe can beat them,” said Gilles Boyer, co-director of Philippe’s campaign.
Marion Solletty and Giorgio Leali contributed to this report.
