Some point the finger at Le Pen herself. A Le Monde magazine article last week showed how the National Front chief dismayed her inner circle during a live TV debate by being far too aggressive and getting her facts mixed up, causing senior aide Sébastien Chênu to shed tears of frustration in the control room of TF1 television. [...]
Still other critics put the blame on party vice president Florian Philippot and his brother, Damien, a former Ifop pollster. The Philippots were dead-set on keeping withdrawal from the European Union as one of the party’s main campaign pledges. Convinced that Le Pen could win if she rallied the same majority of voters who opposed a European Union treaty change in 2005, they argued against dropping the proposal despite polls showing it was deeply unpopular even with National Front supporters. [...]
Philippot is sticking to his anti-euro stance, for an obvious reason: admitting that pushing for withdrawal from the EU was a disastrous mistake that cost Le Pen the election would amount to an admission of personal failure and set the stage for his own ouster, as well as that of his brother. “It’s obvious that as soon as the National Front announces it is giving up on the fight for reconquering monetary sovereignty, a number of problems come up,” Philippot wrote. “How can we imagine economic patriotism without a national currency?” Other senior executives are sure to fight hard against Philippot and argue for abandoning the anti-euro argument outright. “The French did not follow us” on this question, said election strategist and executive board member Nicolas Bay in June. Le Pen herself seems to be leaning away from the anti-euro position. She barely raised it in the final weeks of her campaign — and trying to explain how France would have two parallel currency systems after an EU exit was a traumatic low point of her debate performance.
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