In an exclusive interview with POLITICO, the leader of the National Rally said he would seek to halve France’s contribution to the EU budget.
By MARION SOLLETTY
Jordan Bardella arrives at a rally ahead of France's municipal elections on Feb. 28, 2026. | Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
June 15, 2026
4:00 am CET
BRUSSELS — Jordan Bardella has a warning for Brussels: France’s far right is softening its line on NATO, but not on the European Union.
In an exclusive interview with POLITICO , the French presidential front-runner vowed to challenge the EU’s long-term budget, cut France’s contribution to Brussels and build alliances with nationalist governments to force a rethink of how the bloc works.
“What the European Union stands for — what it was founded on — positive globalization, absolute market power, uncontrolled immigration, economic decline, and excessive regulations on the economy, businesses and European industry, all of this is profoundly outdated, all of this is profoundly old-fashioned, obsolete,” said Bardella, a member of the European Parliament and president of France’s far-right National Rally.
“So we must change the way the European Union functions,” he added.
Bardella’s words will do little to reassure partners abroad who may have thought of him as smoother and less confrontational than his mentor Marine Le Pen, more likely to seek compromise with the EU than to try to blow it up.
In the interview, conducted ahead of a trip to Poland, Bardella sought to reassure allies about the National Rally’s stance on NATO and France’s security commitments to Europe’s eastern flank.
But on EU affairs, he still wants to fundamentally reshape the bloc — a warning shot to Europhiles hoping he would govern more like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has cut deals in Brussels, than former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who repeatedly jammed the EU machinery.
“We do not wish to leave the European Union,” said Bardella. “We wish to change everything without destroying anything.”
The far-right leader singled out the EU’s next long-term budget as an early battleground. While many in Brussels hope to wrap up negotiations before the end of the year, Bardella denounced the timetable as an attempt to lock in spending plans before a possible political shift in Paris.
“The idea is obviously to lock in the budget before a potential change in the majority in France,” he said, describing it as “profoundly anti-democratic.”
“The next French executive, whoever it may be, must have a say in this budget because it will commit France — and thus the future of the French people and the budget of our fellow citizens — for years to come,” he added.
In an escalation from his previous statements on the subject, Bardella said he would immediately seek to “cut in half” the country’s contribution to the EU budget, which he said is “projected to increase at a delusional rate.”
“We do not wish to leave the European Union,” said Bardella. “We wish to change everything without destroying anything.” | Esmeralda Wijangco for POLITICO
He framed his demands as the equivalent of the rebates some wealthier EU countries, such as Germany and the Netherlands, have obtained regarding their contributions to the bloc’s budget.
“We will give the French their money back, and because France is destined to make itself respected and defend its interests,” he said, warning the European Commission that if it wanted to find more money, it would have to cut into its operating expenses.
The argument echoed U.K. populist Nigel Farage’s Brexit-era pitch: that breaking with Brussels was the way to regain control over national finances. But Bardella is making it in France, a founding EU member with public accounts that are already under severe strain.
European offensive
On July 7, Bardella will learn whether he will be his party’s candidate for next year’s presidential election. That’s when an appeals court is due to rule on whether to uphold Le Pen’s conviction for embezzlement and the accompanying five-year ban on holding public office.
If Bardella is tapped to run, he is widely favored to win the first round. Early polls also show him beating other contenders in the runoff, though only narrowly against centrist candidates.
His trip to Poland is part of a broader outreach to potential partners and ideological fellow travelers, such as Meloni, whom he openly admires.
While Bardella has said that he sees “common ground” with Germany’s conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz on easing regulation and curbing migration, he made clear in the interview that he is first looking to fellow nationalist parties as allies.
In Warsaw this week, the French far-right leader said he would meet with figures from the Law and Justice party — a right-wing party that controls the country’s presidency and is second in the polls ahead of a parliamentary election due next year, possibly giving it the opportunity to head a coalition governme…
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