Following the conviction of Marine Le Pen in the European parliamentary assistants’ case, the French justice system is now turning its attention to the young president of the Rassemblement National (RN), Jordan Bardella. The commission responsible for analysing campaign financing accuses him of having received undue loans from individuals to finance his campaign for the 2024 European elections.
The National Commission for Campaign Finance, a state body responsible for monitoring the funds received by parties to finance their election campaigns—a highly regulated process in France—is looking into loans taken out by Jordan Bardella from 225 individuals, totalling €4.5 million. This time, the commission is alarmed by the presence of recurring loans, where the electoral code does not allow loans from individuals “on a regular basis.” Some lenders are suspected of having exceeded the legal limit of five loans.
The mainstream press is keen to point out that financial irregularities have been commonplace at the RN for several years. Disputed funding has already been identified in the past, between 2021 and 2023.
However, the RN is under constant financial pressure due to banks systematically refusing to lend to the party—despite its ability to attract millions of voters in every election—for ideological reasons. Under these circumstances, the RN’s quest for funding is always long and complex, and the party lacks the same access to financial resources that other political groups enjoy. In the past, the RN has had to seek funding abroad, notably in Hungary, but also from a Czech-Russian bank, for which it has been politically criticised by the very people who, through their moral condemnation of the party, are doing everything they can to prevent the RN from obtaining national funding from French banks. The party is therefore forced to turn to private individuals for funding. “We resort to loans from private individuals because French banks systematically refuse to lend to lists supported by the RN and its candidates,” Jordan Bardella told the press.
The sudden interest of the campaign finance commission in Jordan Bardella is clearly political. Since Le Pen’s conviction on March 31st, Jordan Bardella has emerged as a potential candidate for the RN in the 2027 presidential election, should Marine Le Pen fail to have her ineligibility overturned on appeal. Jordan Bardella is currently the favourite in multiple polls, which put him in the lead in voting intentions for the first round of the presidential elections, with more than 30% of the vote. One poll even puts him neck and neck in the second round with the Macronist candidate, former prime minister Edouard Philippe—meaning he has an even better chance of winning than Le Pen.
The RN has clearly identified the offensive against Bardella. The RN president, interviewed on France Inter on Wednesday, May 21st, denounced it as a campaign of political “harassment.” “It’s becoming clear that everything is being done to destroy the RN financially,” he exclaimed on public radio.
Indeed, this new investigation by the campaign finance commission is, in effect, retroactive—launched after the fact—even though the RN’s accounts had been validated following the June 2024 election, in which the RN came out on top. “I have complied with all the rules and will respond to all requests from the National Campaign Finance Commission,” Bardella insisted, ready to provide “all the necessary supporting documents.”
