Political guest of “La Matinale” Saturday May 2, Edwige Diaz, RN deputy for Gironde, returned to the relations between her party and the unions, while many workers question too close exchanges between elected officials and employers.
This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in full.
For May 1, the RN met its supporters yesterday in Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire). Your way to celebrate May 1st. Is this also your way of symbolically stealing May 1st from the left?
Oh dear, I don’t feel like we’re stealing anything from anyone. At the National Rally, there is a tradition, we celebrate every May 1st the day of those who work, of those who have worked, but also the Day of the Nation. These are the values of the National Gathering that we celebrated yesterday (Friday May 1) in front of more than 6,000 people, with a festive, friendly atmosphere and, above all, deep determination. The sense of responsibility and duty too. We are one year away from the presidential election. We ask the patriots of France to mobilize, to register on the electoral lists, to take their card at the National Rally, because we will need all the votes to straighten out France, while 75% of French people believe that Emmanuel Macron is a bad President of the Republic.
There was the air of presidential speeches, of presidential meetings. What is the economic line of the National Rally? It is difficult to know whether it is social-statist or national-liberal. We hear a bit of two bells if we have Marine Le Pen in the left ear and Jordan Bardella in the right ear.
I have been hearing this for several weeks on all television sets, but our economic program is very clear. Moreover, it is available on our website. We are for freedom of enterprise, support for business leaders, support for entrepreneurs in our country. We want a State that protects, that creates the conditions for favorable economic development, which is not currently the case. In my area, 17 businesses a day closed last year. 90% of French people believe that Emmanuel Macron’s economic record is a failure, with this disastrous economic policy, so on the one hand to stop with the Macronists who have failed on everything and, above all, to prevent the new popular front with Jean-Luc Mélenchon from winning the presidential election next year because otherwise it would be a disaster for our entrepreneurs.
You defend a lot and always have, in fact, the working classes, people who have purchasing power problems. And, on the other hand, you have a speech that is quite pro-employer. However, this is exactly what these people are criticizing. Are you asking Medef, for example, to increase salaries?
In any case, our proposal on salaries is very clear. We want to offer business leaders a win-win deal, that is to say allowing them to increase salaries by 10%, in return for exemption from employer contributions. We do not oppose the working classes, the workers, the employees, the employees and the business leaders, because the two must work together. That’s national unity. There cannot be thriving companies if there are no motivated employees. This is why the State must have a role of regulator, guide, support to promote the economic development of our companies which, ultimately, will serve the employees that we always defend. Moreover, we can see it clearly in the voting intentions: more and more employees are deciding to trust us because they have seen that the left had betrayed them, that Emmanuel Macron never took care of them and that we have measures which are favorable to increasing their purchasing power.
Jordan Bardella was interviewed by Medef and there was a dinner between Marine Le Pen and bosses of the CAC 40 including, in particular, the bosses of TotalEnergies and LVMH. Do you have the feeling that the employers are now on your side for 2027?
No, not at all and it’s not a goal either. I consider that, when you are the leading party in France in terms of number of members, number of voters, number of deputies in the National Assembly, it is normal that business leaders want to meet you and that we want to meet them. We are given potentially qualified for the second round of the presidential election, potentially declared victorious in the presidential election, and it is normal for the leading party in France to discuss with the employers’ organizations. What is not normal is that unions like the CGT refuse to discuss with us, but that is not very serious. Employees and workers know that we defend them. We are moving forward in a state of mind of appeasement, of determination, because we want to bring about this national reconciliation and we believe that we are the only ones who can do it.
There is this strong opposition from the unions who marched in the streets on May 1st. Does this mean that you will govern without the opinion of the social partners?
No, not at all, because we are very respectful of institutions. But I would still like to point out the hypocrisy of all the unions which claim to defend purchasing power. I would like to remind you that they all called to vote for Emmanuel Macron, whether in 2017, in 2022, and for all the candidates supported by Emmanuel Macron in the 2024 legislative elections. So the unions are discredited. I hope that they will come to their senses and that they will be very respectful of democracy if, however, we win the presidential election next year. Thanks to our 140 deputies, with our allies in the UDR, we are on the ground. In Gironde, in my department, I am always in close collaboration, in exchange with the employees who demonstrate their trust in us and for that we send them our sincere thanks.
Click on the video to watch the interview in full.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
