Macron slams antisemitic comments attributed to Le Pen ally

President Emmanuel Macron has condemned “extremely serious and unacceptable” antisemitic comments attributed to French far-right leader Jordan Bardella that have harmed presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s campaign.

News website Mediapart reported that Bardella made remarks disparaging Jewish people dating back to 2013, when he was a teenager, based on comments in private chats that it said it had authenticated.

Bardella has denied the allegations and denounced “a total war” aiming to “destabilize” the 2027 presidential election campaign of the far-right National Rally (RN) party that he leads.

“The comments that have been reported are obviously extremely serious and unacceptable,” Macron tells reporters in Madrid during a state visit to Spain.

“They do not allow for any kind of comment, they call for the strongest condemnation,” says the centrist president, who will leave office next year after serving two consecutive terms since 2017.

Macron calls on the RN to “clarify” its members’ positions.

Bardella hits back at Macron on X, saying he had marched through Paris in a rally against antisemitism after the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, unlike the president.

A poll published on Monday suggested Le Pen would win the first round of next year’s election and defeat her challenger in the second round, which would send shockwaves throughout Europe.

In that scenario, Bardella, 31, would be tapped to be her prime minister.

Le Pen says Bardella has her “total confidence” and slammed opponents for doing “absolutely anything — including the most disgusting things — to try to derail this momentum” ahead of the vote.