President Nicolas Sarkozy's party gathered some of its
biggest guns in the Mediterranean city, including party chairman Jean-Francois
Cope, presidential adviser Henri Guaino and Ecology Minister Nathalie
Kosciusko-Morizet, who spearheads the UMP's drive against the FN. The rally was
organized by Nice's mayor Christian Estrosi, a former UMP minister.
Marine Le Pen, who took over from her father Jean-Marie Le
Pen as FN leader in January, is a close third behind Sarkozy and the leading
socialist contender in opinion polls for the 2012 presidential election. She
briefly led the polls in the spring, but has now fallen back to just below 20
percent.
She has softened the FN's image, toning down her father's
anti-immigration rhetoric and expelling from the party young hotheads who had
been photographed making the Nazi salute.
UMP leaders said this was purely cosmetic.
"About those who are trying to make people believe they
have a new program, more realistic and more tolerant, just because the first
name has changed, I say do not be confused. The name is the same. The ideology
is the same," Estrosi told supporters in an open-air arena near Nice's
beachfront.
His speech was interrupted several times by young far-right
supporters shouting slogans and waving banners reading "No mosque in Nice.”
Nice is a UMP stronghold but in the second round of local
elections in March, the FN won more than 40 percent of the vote on the Cote
d'Azur.
"Right and far-right are playing cat and mouse on their
home turf," wrote local daily Nice-Matin.
Le Pen presents what she says is a radical economic
alternative to the government. She wants France to exit the euro, which she
says is overvalued by at least 40 percent and is making it impossible for
French companies to compete internationally. She also wants to bring back
import tariffs to protect French producers from cheap Chinese imports.
Her shift in emphasis is a response to growing fears in
France that austerity and Europe's debt crisis could eat away at the array of
social services treasured by many citizens.
But in front of a crowd of hundreds of cheering supporters
Le Pen called for tighter immigration laws.
"It is in the interest of France to stop all
immigration and even to reverse the flow," she said.
"We do not need foreign workers because there is no
work and in these difficult times what little work there is must first benefit
our own people," she said to rapturous applause.
Le Pen made little reference to the UMP on Sunday, but told
reporters on Saturday its choice of venue for its rally showed "their fear
and disarray.”
"They know they are losing their voters to us,"
she said.
French political parties traditionally hold conferences in
late August and early September. Eight months ahead of the presidential
election, they are gathering huge media interest.
Guaino denied the UMP had any fear of Marine Le Pen.
"The only fear I have is that we may not be able to
find the words and ideas to respond to the aspirations of the French people. If
we do not find an answer to their despair, they will vote for extreme
parties," he said.
