France’s business leaders and far right are no longer testing each other only behind closed doors; they are now holding public talks in front of Paris’s political and economic establishment. With the 2027 presidential election just one year away, both sides have their reasons. Business leaders want to influence the economic platform currently being shaped by a leading contender, while the far right wants to shed its pariah status and neutralize criticism from this influential sector.
The pattern has become familiar. News of a meeting leaks, business leaders quietly brief the press to voice concerns about far-right Rassemblement National (RN) leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, the RN boasts of its growing access and claims it is winning support for its economic program, and more meetings follow.
Two occasions in April gave each side a chance to size up the other. On Monday, April 20, the leadership of MEDEF, France’s largest employers’ federation, met Bardella for lunch in Paris’s 17th arrondissement. He was accompanied by two advisers experienced in dealing with business leaders: former financier François Durvye and RN lawmaker Alexandre Loubet. MEDEF itself announced the meeting to the press, seemingly unconcerned about any backlash. The organization now treats these meetings as routine, noting that it has held similar talks with the hard-left La France Insoumise party and that Bardella was invited to MEDEF’s annual conference in the summer of 2025.
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