If elected, Bardella would lead Europe’s second-largest economy, one of NATO’s most powerful militaries and the European Union’s only nuclear power.
Yet rather than embracing Trump, Bardella is warning that Europe must prepare for a future in which Washington is no longer willing to guarantee the continent’s security. “The Americans are allies, and they will remain so,” he said. “But they are allies who no longer intend to come to Europe’s rescue or to remain the umbrella and protector of European countries.”
“President Trump’s second term is very significantly different from the first,” he added, noting Trump was “harder to read.” Washington, he said, now views itself as “an empire” with a sphere of influence in the Western hemisphere. “It is threatening to Europe in the sense that it impacts many European countries — not France, but many European countries — with this fear of the United States of America’s disengagement.”
Waiting in the wings
Bardella isn’t his party’s first choice as candidate.
Marine Le Pen — the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Rally’s late founder — has run in the past three elections. But if her conviction for embezzlement is upheld by an appeals court in July, the 57-year-old political veteran will be unable to stand, leaving the door open for her protégé.
With his polished style, Bardella has been instrumental in helping Le Pen bring the far-right party into the mainstream and appeal to younger French voters. A child of an Italian mother and a father of Italian origins, he grew up in a working-class suburb north of Paris. In April, he went public with his relationship with Maria Carolina de Bourbon des Deux-Siciles, an Italian princess and influencer.