A few days before the first round of legislative elections in France, the economic program presented by Jordan Bardella, the leader of the nationalist party Rassemblement National (RN), has given the impression of a retreat, a softening of the program and some of its key measures. As if overwhelmed by the prospect of power, Bardella is watering down his economic and social promises in case he becomes Prime Minister. It appears that as the wall of power gets closer, the wall of reality becomes almost insurmountable!

Jordan Bardella, whose party is leading in the polls, faces the veto of Brussels on promised VAT reductions, reducing France's contribution to the European budget, or exiting the electricity market. This is the reality! Bardella announces that first and foremost, he would conduct an "audit of public accounts" to determine France's exact budgetary situation. After all, the errors and omissions of Bruno Le Maire, the current French Finance Minister, in public finances could hold more unpleasant surprises. Once the audit is known, the RN leader could partially renounce his electoral promises due to a severely degraded financial situation! It’s a fair game! Even if the political maneuver is quite blatant!

The Left has always been a master in the art of major societal reforms that cost nothing to the budget and satisfy part of its electoral base.

Bardella wouldn’t be the first to retreat: François Mitterrand, the newly elected Socialist President of France in 1981, forgot his promises two years later. The year 1983 was marked by the left's conversion to the market economy and Europe. Jacques Chirac, on the other hand, did not want to "change life" but at least "reduce the social fracture" in a France then plagued by unemployment. "In 1995, he increased fiscal pressure and asked Prime Minister Alain Juppé for a plan to restore social accounts," notes the newspaper Le Monde.

Thus, Bardella wouldn't be the first, even if his role would stop at the position of Prime Minister in the case of political victory, thus in cohabitation with President Macron.

The Left has always been a master in the art of major societal reforms that cost nothing to the budget and satisfy part of its electoral base. The most notable societal reforms of the left in power were the abolition of the death penalty under Mitterrand and same-sex marriage with François Hollande.

Is Bardella going to be tempted by "societal reforms" rather than economically difficult-to-finance reforms? Societal reforms that cost nothing to the budget and leave a mark on the national right-wing electorate? Societal reforms for the RN? On citizenship, immigration, security, for instance? Or education? Moreover, the young nationalist leader has just announced the grand return of authority in French schools!

But today, how many French voters still vote for the implementation of promises contained in political programs? Politics has lost its nobility. Voting crystallizes on rejection, frustration, distrust of elites, and political radicalism. Another widely heard electoral argument in France: "We've tried everything... So why not the RN?