PARIS (AP) – He wore a suit that looked like a helmet, smiled like a pop singer, and had over 2 million followers on Tiktok. Jordan Bardella, just 29 years old, has become a fresh face of the French National Rally Party and is now expected to inherit one of Europe’s most successful far-right machines.
But behind the image of young confidence is a question of increasing whispering of allies and opponents: Can Badra, who has no government experience, really lead?
After French courts misappropriate EU funds and banned her from office for five years, the presidential ambitions of Marine Le Pen, Badra’s mentor, are likely to have ended. This means Bardella finds herself the last person on the largest party in the French National Assembly. But having the spotlight doesn’t mean he directs the stage.
Critics call him Le Pen’s puppet. Le Pen calls him her asset.
On Monday night, she seemed to suggest that the estimated moment might have been earlier than expected.
“I hope we don’t have to predate the necessary assets,” she told TF1 TV Network.
From housing projects to the edge of power
Bardella was born in 1995 in the suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis, which is headlines for gang violence and poverty rather than political commitments. He grew up in public housing for his son in Italy and Algerian heritage. His father ran the vending machine business. His family shaved together and sent him to a semi-private Catholic school. He never finished college.
But ambitions move faster than education. At the age of 17, he joined the National Assembly – still known as the National Front at the time, a party avoided by a polite society and defined by the legacy of Jean-Marie Le Pen. This is a dead end for most people. For Bardella, it’s a launch pad.
By the age of 23, he was a member of the European Parliament. By the age of 26, Marine Le Pen made him the party chairman, the first person outside the Le Pen family to lead the far-right movement in his half-century history. It is a symbolic handover, but also a move that aims to modernize the long-stained brand of racism and anti-Semitism.
“Jordan Bardella was the creation of the Marines,” said Cécile Alduy, a professor at Stanford University and a French far right expert. “He was created by her and was very loyal.”
He soon became the face of the party: a camera of modern political aesthetics, undisputed and fluent. Le Pen mastered the ins ropes of ideology, while Bardella toured the reshaping sports as a young ambassador.
Their alliance was once seen as a ticket to an American style – she served as Prime Minister, Prime Minister. But this balance no longer holds true. With Le Pen staying, Bardella is no longer a backup.
The problem is, he never intended to lead.
The heirs obviously have no record
Bardella never held a state position. He never performed a ministry. But he has established a follower. With the huge presence and sleek, stage management image of social media, he has become a star of young voters, offering a range of politics that looks fresh even if the message is familiar.
His content is clean, well-planned and ruthless news. The campaign video includes sharp suits, harsh suits on President Emmanuel Macron and selfie lines. He didn’t improvise. He did not deviate.
The discipline helps expand the appeal of the national rally, especially after Macron lost in the 2024 European elections. Bardella is the one who asked Macron to dissolve the parliament. When Macron agreed, Badra’s identity moved from the partisan mascot to the potential prime minister.
Style, message and vulnerability
However, the more obvious he becomes, the more limitations he has.
Last week, Bardella traveled to Israel to strengthen his image on the world stage. It backfires. The Jewish major organized a boycott of the event he attended. Israeli President Isaac Herzog stays away. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only provides a brief formal handshake.
French media called the visit a reputational failure, a trip designed to signal international status, ultimately highlighting its absence. Bardella may wear a suit, but many say he hasn’t grown up yet.
At home, his platform is the far right-wing standard fare: stricter immigration laws, non-citizen social welfare and restrictions on dual national restrictions holding sensitive public work. He promised to lower energy taxes, reverse Macron’s pension reforms and a ban on high school cell phones.
Abroad, he tried to sound more like a politician, expressing support for armed Ukraine and labeling Russia as a “multidimensional threat” and calling for France to eventually withdraw from NATO’s comprehensive order, albeit not during the European war.
It is a plan that aims to keep the nationalist core of the movement intact and secure tense voters.
“His slate is clean and has no luggage that has passed,” Alduyi said.
But the real problem has nothing to do with his past. This is whether he is ready for what will happen next.
Between the spotlight and the script
Currently, Bardella takes a beautiful route as the sudden promotional protégé is trying to become the host of the behavior.
His power lies in speech. Suits, smiles, tones – they are all in place. His weakness lies behind the performance. Still have questions.
French media criticized Badra for failing to prepare for his party’s real strength. The National Rally figure said his leaders focused more on individual promotion than collective progress, and more on improving their image than on gatherings or building serious management forces.
Others tied him to the lack of structure and professionalism within the party. The projects he once promised, from recruiting external talent to strengthening local networks, have stalled. The main voice said that the party was too concentrated, too top-down, too afraid to challenge its young leaders.
Whether Bardella is the future of French politics or just her most polished erudition will not depend on the Ocean Le Pen, but whether he can become more important than her invention.
