The National Rally (French: Rassemblement National, pronounced [ʁasɑ̃bləmɑ̃ nasjɔnal]; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (French: Front National, pronounced [fʁɔ̃ nasjɔnal]; FN), is a far-right political party in France. It is the largest parliamentary opposition group in the National Assembly and the party has seen its candidate reach the second round in the 2002, 2017 and 2022 presidential elections. It is an anti-immigration party, advocating significant cuts to legal immigration and protection of French identity, as well as stricter control of illegal immigration. It also advocates for a 'more balanced' and 'independent' French foreign policy by opposing French military intervention in Africa and by distancing France from the American sphere of influence by leaving NATO's integrated command. It has opposed the European Union (EU) and its related organisations. It also supports French economic interventionism and protectionism, and its economic and social policies are often classified as left leaning; it has a zero tolerance approach towards law and order. The party has been accused of promoting xenophobia and antisemitism. The party was founded in 1972 to unify the French nationalist movement. Its political views are nationalist, nativist and anti-globalist. Jean-Marie Le Pen founded the party and was its leader until his resignation in 2011. While the party struggled as a marginal force for its first ten years, since 1984 it has been a major force of French nationalism. It has put forward a candidate at every presidential election but one since 1974. In 2002, Jean-Marie came second in the first round, but finished a distant second in the runoff to Jacques Chirac. His daughter Marine Le Pen was elected to succeed him as party leader in 2012. She temporarily stepped down in 2017 in order to concentrate on her presidential candidacy, but resumed her presidency after the election. She headed the party until 2021, when she temporarily resigned again. A year later, Jordan Bardella was elected as her successor. The party has seen a spectacular increase in its popularity and acceptance in French society in recent years. While her father was nicknamed the "Devil of the Republic" by mainstream media and sparked outrage for hate speech, including Holocaust denial and Islamophobia, Marine Le Pen pursued a policy of "de-demonisation" of the party by softening its image and trying to frame the party as being neither right nor left. She endeavoured to extract it from its far-right cultural roots and normalise it by giving it a culture of government, as well as censuring controversial members like her father, who was suspended and then expelled from the party in 2015. Following her election as the leader of the party in 2011, the popularity of the FN grew. By 2015, the FN had established itself as a major political party in France. At the FN congress of 2018, Marine Le Pen proposed renaming the party Rassemblement national (National Rally), and this was confirmed by a ballot of party members. Formerly strongly Eurosceptic, the National Rally changed policies in 2019, deciding to campaign for a reform of the EU rather than leaving it and to keep the euro as the main currency of France (together with the CFP franc for some collectivities). In 2021, Le Pen announced that she wanted to remain in the Schengen Area, citing "an attachment to the European spirit", but to reserve free movement to nationals of a European Economic Area country, excluding residents and visitors of another Schengen country.
