The Populist Interviews: Marion Maréchal on Post-Covid Europe, French Elites, the European Union, and more
Marion Maréchal became involved in politics at a young age. At first as a mere grassroots activist in the National Front, founded by her grandfather, Jean-Marie Le Pen. In 2012, she got into parliament from the party’s lists, as the youngest MP in the history of the French Fifth Republic. In 2017, she decided to withdraw from active politics, but only to continue to fight in the realm of ideas. She founded ISSEP (Institut des sciences sociales, économiques et politiques) school of political, social and economic sciences and an affiliated think tank. She is seen by many as the hope of the French Right, as speculations of her return to politics never seem to wane. Her speech at CPAC in the US in 2018 introduced her to the American Right. She has a little daughter. This year she married an Italian MEP, Vincenzo Sofo, a member of the right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia.
The following — part of a series of interviews on IM—1776 exploring ‘populism’ and its impact — is a slightly edited (for clarity) transcript of an interview which took place in Paris, on October 5, 2021.
Tyszka-Drozdowski: Ms. Maréchal, how do you think has France and the world in general changed since the pandemic began? Do you think the new institution of Lockdown, the psychological effects on people, and the laws of the ‘New Normal’ such as masks and social distancing measures are here to stay?
Marion Maréchal: France remains one of the most restrictive countries in Europe. We have had a series of ridiculous moves, lies and incompetence, the level of which has been truly unbelievable. For almost two years now we have been living under a state of emergency regime that suspends the normal functioning of our institutions. The president and the government can violate fundamental freedoms with a simple decree. The courts and tribunals, of course, accept every decision of the government, without ever questioning it. Today we live with the so-called pass sanitaire [sanitary pass], which is vaccine coercion in disguise, because the unvaccinated are supposed to test themselves before every time they go to a café or a restaurant, or even a public hospital. If you’re not tested, you can’t even use the hospital that you pay taxes for. As of October, testing will no longer be free. In my opinion, we have entered the logic of the Chinese social credit system, and I say this weighing my words. We now have two categories of people, the vaccinated who are entitled to a normal life, and the unvaccinated whose lives are being made impossible. I am amazed by this, given that we are one of the most vaccinated countries in the world and the current epidemic situation does not warrant maintaining these measures. Even the Conseil constitutionnel [a body that determines the compliance of passed laws with constitution] has said that it only approves these measures on the condition that they are time-limited. So I think we have entered a period when reigns the logic of a state that claims to pursue the public ‘good’ despite the public will and regardless of the public’s wishes. Evidently these tools that the state has appropriated for itself during the epidemic can be used in the future for other policy purposes, i.e. for example, restricting movement in the name of ‘saving the planet’. I believe that everyone in Europe will be given a digital identity which eventually will contain all of our social, fiscal, banking and health information. When these tools end up in the wrong hands, it will bring about a level of social surveillance that is greatly concerning to me. One can imagine someone not paying a ticket tomorrow, or not being vaccinated and losing their right to live a normal life.
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