Patrons should not get closer to the RN, according to Pascal Demurger, who believes it is “illusory to think you can influence such a radical ideology.”
Pascal Demurger in Paris, January 15, 2019. (AFP / ERIC FEFERBERG)
The CEO of Maif, Pascal Demurger, stated on Sunday, April 12, that business leaders who are tempted by a “rapprochement” with the National Rally – as illustrated by a dinner between top executives and Marine Le Pen last week – “is as much a tactical error as a political illusion.”
“Once unanimously distant, more and more business leaders are now crossing the line and responding to invitations from RN leaders, too happy to receive, at each of these meetings, an additional mark of respectability,” laments the head of the mutual insurer and co-president of the Impact France employers’ movement, in an article published in the newspaper Le Monde.
Marine Le Pen met this week with around fifteen top executives, among the most prominent in French capitalism, including Bernard Arnault (LVMH), Patrick Pouyanné (TotalEnergies), and Sébastien Bazin (Accor).
Cynicism
According to Pascal Demurger, “many do it with the concern to limit the damage, or more cynically for some to protect their interests”, but it is “as much a tactical error as a political illusion. This rapprochement primarily serves the interests of a party that has a vital need to strengthen its economic culture and consolidate its networks to establish its legitimacy.”
“This dynamic gives it a respectability and technical credibility that were long nonexistent in the eyes of the public and risks accelerating its victory. It is then illusory to think you can influence such a radical ideology,” continues the head of Maif.
“To my peers who still doubt, who think meeting with the RN is a sensible precaution, I say this: history needs our insight and resistance,” he argues.
The Impact France employers’ movement brings together around 30,000 companies that claim to be concerned about the social and environmental impact of their activities.
