The National Rally leader will meet with the leaders of 13 other conservative and far-right parties in Poland to show off with all the eurosceptic and anti-liberal European forces. The joint declaration signed by the parties over the summer will be used to convince the Polish Law and Justice Party leader Jaros aw Kaczy ski to create a new major European alliance.
It will help Marine Le Pen present herself as an all-round international figure ready to challenge Emmanuel Macron's position in the EU ahead of the 2022 French elections. The French far-right leader will be welcomed as a state woman who does international diplomacy, according to her party spokesperson. The trip will also be seen in France as a power move by the National Rally leader against Eric Zemmour, the far-right political pundit who declared himself a candidate for the election earlier this week. A former journalist who has been convicted of inciting racial hatred, he is a top contender to challenge Marine Le Pen, leader of the more established far-right National Rally, for a place in a second round against President Emmanuel Macron.
On Tuesday, Zemmour announced his candidacy for president, with a video in which he said he wanted to save France from decadence and minorities that oppress the majority. The election, which began in the last decade, shows signs of reaching a ceiling as it pushes against boundaries of acceptable speech. He said: For a long time, I was happy with the role of journalist but I no longer trust that a politician will have the courage to save the country from the tragic fate that awaits it. I have decided to stand in the presidential election. READ MORE: Remainers dealt with a blow as Rejoin EU loses deposit in Bexley by-election.
Mr Zemmour's hardline criticism of Islam and immigration has attracted both support from the voter base and the mainstream conservative right, but has also alienated some voters that Le Pen had long sought to reassure. As footage showed women with headscarves, black men in the metro and CCTV footage of fights, he told voters on Tuesday: "You feel like you are not in the country you once knew, you are foreigners in your own country." He said that we must give back the power to the people, take it back from minorities that oppress the majority. After a meteoric rise in opinion polls over the past week, with several surveys forecasting he would beat Le Pen in the election's run-off round, his popularity has been slipping.