The Seine-et-Marne area southeast of Paris has emerged as a bastion of support for the National Rally in a region that was previously hostile towards Marine Le Pen’s party. Fresh from its triumph in European elections, the far right is riding a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in the French capital’s outlying suburbs as it aims for a historic win in upcoming legislative elections.
Nestled in a loop of the Seine some 80 kilometres upstream from Paris, the town of Champagne-sur-Seine is a prime target for Le Pen’s National Rally (RN).
Over the past decade, the far-right party has seen its share of the vote grow steadily in this town of 6,500 inhabitants, culminating in a crushing victory in European elections on June 9, when it took over 37 percent of the vote.
With the country heading back to polls in snap elections on June 30 and July 7, the RN is now hoping to snatch the local seat at the National Assembly, just two years after it narrowly missed out on a second-round runoff.
At the train station in Champagne-sur-Seine, commuters make no secret of their support for a party that has largely succeeded in “detoxifying” its brand – though many are still reluctant to give their name.
Returning from the inner suburbs of Paris, rail worker Laurent* points to a badge on his jacket bearing the blue, white and red colours of the French flag.
“It sums it up: either you love France or you leave it,” he says. “And that applies to both you and me, whether you’re an 'aspirin tablet' (slang for a White person) or a foreigner who spits on France.”
Like many of Le Pen’s voters, Laurent, 50, cites immigration as his primary concern.
“We can’t even provide food and shelter to those already in the country,” he says. “They should be helped first, instead of bringing more people in.”
‘Troublemakers should be kicked out’
The far right’s ascent in Champagne-sur-Seine is in step with a country-wide surge in support for the National Rally, which has its best chance yet of seizing power following President Emmanuel Macron’s shock decision to dissolve the National Assembly.
Voter surveys suggest Le Pen’s party is poised to win the largest share of votes in the upcoming elections, possibly even clinching an absolute majority of seats in France’s lower house of parliament, which wields greater powers than the Senate.
The latter outcome would lead to France’s first far-right government since the Nazi-allied Vichy Regime – capping an extraordinary turnaround for an extremist party that was co-founded by Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie, a Vichy supporter and convicted anti-Semite.
“Jean-Marie Le Pen was too extreme for me, but Marine has a softer approach,” says Laurent, who began voting for the far right a decade ago, with Marine Le Pen at the party’s helm.
“She says foreigners who are willing to integrate are welcome, but that troublemakers should be kicked out,” he adds.
Read moreHow France’s far right changed the debate on immigration
Fellow commuter Jeremy, 37, says he will also vote for the National Rally, though he is more wary of the far right’s message and its “scary” history.
“I want the National Rally to have a greater presence in parliament but I don’t necessarily want Jordan Bardella as prime minister,” he says, referring to the RN president and poster boy whom Le Pen has named as her candidate for PM.
A former supporter of the mainstream conservative camp, Jeremy says he is “not entirely opposed to immigration”, noting that the “history of this country is built on immigration”.
However, the technician for energy company EDF says he moved to a nearby area because he no longer feels “at home” in his native Champagne-sur-Seine.
“My childhood friends here have changed,” he says. “We used to all play together and dress the same, but then they started growing beards, dressing in djellabas and talking about their faith. Now they lecture people about drinking alcohol, eating pork or going out with girls.”
And while a Halal butcher, a kebab stall and two pizzerias have helped revitalise the town’s run-down centre, Jeremy is nostalgic of the traditional shops that vanished years ago, including Champagne-sur-Seine’s old fishing store and a patisserie known for its local specialties.
‘They’ve brought people in from all over the place’
Nostalgia for the “Champagne of old” is a recurring topic of conversation among voters in this former industrial hub, home to a Schneider factory that built shells during World War I and powered the first Paris métro lines at the start of the 20th century.
The factory was both the pride of Champagne-sur-Seine and its main employer, says 70-year-old Jacquot, the town’s former postman, while shopping at the local food market which has shrunk over the years to just a few stalls.
Schneider built the large millstone blocks that surround the market square and once housed the factory’s workers. The company also brought in a large immigrant workforce, changing the town’s demographics.
But the factory closed down in 1989 and was taken over by a Swedish-Swiss company, ABB, which kept only a fraction of the workforce. The local economy took a huge blow and the workers’ homes were converted into social housing.
That’s when Jacquot, a former Communist voter, switched allegiance to the RN’s predecessor, the National Front, which lured working-class voters away from the left with its pledge to give French nationals priority access to jobs and welfare.
“They’ve brought people in from all over the place,” says Jacquot, accusing successive governments of favouring immigrants over French nationals. “Prices have gone up and they (immigrants) are given priority over us.”
Crime and incivility are also on the rise, according to the pensioner, who says he was slapped in the face two years ago after lecturing a young person who was cycling on a pavement.
Pierrette Walter, a former deputy mayor, disagrees with Jacquot’s assessment.
“We do have many economically vulnerable residents, but it doesn’t mean they will hurt anyone,” she says, noting that almost half of all homes in Champagne-sur-Seine are classified as social housing.
“It’s going to be a tough election,” adds the former nurse, who “usually” votes left-wing. “But one thing is certain: I will never cast a ballot for the far right.”
‘They didn’t want Blacks and Arabs’
Anne*, a 57-year-old cleaner, has been casting ballots for the far right since the age of 18.
“The only time I tried something different was for (François) Mitterrand in 1981,” says the mother of five, who was soon “disappointed” with the former Socialist president.
From her home, Anne can spot a shelter for asylum seekers that opened in 2015, at the height of Europe’s refugee crisis. Run by the Red Cross, it houses mostly single men, many of them Afghans, who make daily trips to Paris alongside the town’s commuters.
“Here I am struggling to make ends meet, while the lights stay on all night at the migrant hostel. And what’s more, they get food stamps,” she seethes. “We could at least ask them to make a token contribution, to the town’s community work scheme, for instance.”
She adds: “I’m not racist. I have grandchildren of foreign origin. I’m not discriminating against anyone, but I do want (immigrants) to respect the country that took them in. Today, I think too many people trash it.”
The decision to open an emergency shelter in the town has stoked tensions among local residents, says Sara*, a 40-year-old mother who lives in a middle-class area of Champagne-sur-Seine and whose neighbours frequently complain about immigrants.
“What bothers them is that most of these new arrivals are men of colour or from visible minorities,” she says. “They think there are too many foreigners.”
She recalled a neighbourhood meeting that “got out of hand” last year when residents were consulted on plans to create a playground linking their residential quarters to nearby social housing projects.
“Some residents opposed the plan because they didn’t want ‘Blacks and Arabs’ squatting in the area,” says Sara, whose parents are of North African origin. She blames parts of the media for spreading the far right’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“We’ve been lynched in the media for a while now, it’s become commonplace,” she says. “You can now attack a whole section of the population without getting into trouble.”
A teacher, Sara says she will do her bit to “block the far right” and encourage others to go out and vote. But she is pessimistic about the outcome of the election and alarmed at the rise in support for Le Pen’s among young voters.
“I can excuse older voters and those who struggle to pay their bills, but I cannot understand this new generation of RN voters,” she says. “When it’s your own childhood friends, those who used to come over to your place for a meal – that’s when it really hurts.”
*Names have been changed
This article is a translation of the original in French.
