FirstFT: French far-right leader Jordan Bardella vows ‘cultural battle’ against Islamism

Good morning. With the first round of the French elections in just three days, we begin today with an interview with Jordan Bardella, the far-right candidate to be France’s prime minister.

Speaking to the Financial Times, the 28-year-old chief of the Rassemblement National party pledged to fight a “cultural battle” against Islamism and secure an EU budget rebate even as he promised “a lot of pragmatism” on the economy if his party wins snap elections.

Bardella said he was confident of winning an outright majority in legislative elections, which would force President Emmanuel Macron into a “cohabitation”, or power-sharing government, with a potentially antagonistic counterpart.

“I think the French are ready for change,” said Bardella, adding that the country wanted to “break with seven years of Macronism which has been brutal in its method of governing”. He also committed to using the political “weight” of his election victory to cut France’s contributions to the EU budget by €2bn. “I want to get a rebate,” he declared.

Read his full interview with Leila Abboud and Ben Hall in Paris.

And don’t miss our Europe Express newsletter, which will be free to read for the next few weekends as we break down the French elections and what it means for the region (also available en français). Here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today:

Economic data: The Bank of England publishes its report on the UK financial system’s stability, while the US has its final first-quarter GDP figure.

Biden vs Trump: The current and former US presidents go head to head in a 90-minute debate on CNN tonight. Here’s what to expect as the rivals meet in-person for the first time in four years.

EU summit: The bloc’s 27 leaders meet to decide the line-up of senior positions. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has warned that Ursula von der Leyen only has a “fragile majority” for a second term as European Commission president unless Rome’s demands for the bloc’s top jobs are taken into account.

Companies: Indivior’s transfer of its primary listing from the UK to the US takes effect. Lloyds Banking Group has a strategy update, while Bunzl releases a trading statement. Results are expected from Halfords, Currys, H&M, Moonpig, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Watches of Switzerland.

Five more top stories

1. Rishi Sunak has made a pugnacious last-ditch bid to try to avert electoral disaster for the Tories, repeatedly urging voters in a television debate not to “surrender” the UK to Labour. The prime minister insisted yesterday that Sir Keir Starmer would raise taxes, allow welfare spending to spiral and lose control of the country’s borders. Here’s how the primetime evening debate went down.

Nigel Farage: With his Reform UK’s bootstrap campaign dogged by criticisms of racism and misogyny, the FT speaks to the veteran anti-EU campaigner who has propelled the party up in the polls.

Election betting: London’s Metropolitan Police is to take over “a small number” of investigations in the scandal, raising the possibility of political figures facing charges of misconduct in public office.

2. Investors in top-rated European commercial mortgage bonds are set for their first losses since the global financial crisis, analysts say. Rising borrowing costs over the past two years have triggered the worst downturn in commercial property since the 2008 crisis, with the value of offices, retail and other assets falling by between a third and a fifth from their 2022 peak in Europe. Here are the senior bonds expected to be hit.

3. Global merger and acquisition deals hit $1.5tn in the first half of 2024 as a surge in US takeovers and an uptick in megamergers offset a declining number of acquisitions. The value of deals struck was 22 per cent higher than a year earlier, according to mid-year data compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group, driven by a 70 per cent rise in big deals worth more than $10bn. Here’s more on the tentative M&A recovery.

4. Bolivian troops have withdrawn from the presidential palace after an apparent failed coup attempt. Footage shared on social media appeared to show military vehicles leaving the central plaza in La Paz hours after an armoured vehicle rammed into the entrance of the presidential palace and heavily-armed soldiers forced their way inside. Here’s what we know so far.

5. The next UK government must stop “walking on eggshells” around improving EU trade ties, the head of the UK’s largest business organisation is to warn. Shevaun Haviland, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, will today urge the winner of next week’s election to deepen the current EU-UK trade and co-operation deal in order to boost economic growth, saying: “The current plan isn’t working.”

Deep dive

Over nearly nine months of simmering conflict with the Hizbollah militant group, Israel’s military has laid waste to swaths of southern Lebanon. Data gathered by the FT suggests that as diplomatic negotiations sputter, the Israeli military has used force to create a new reality on the ground. Near-daily aerial bombardment, artillery shelling and the incendiary chemical white phosphorus have made much of the 5km north of the Blue Line, the UN-drawn border between the two countries, uninhabitable. Here’s how Israel is creating a “dead zone” in Lebanon.

We’re also reading . . . 

Swastikas and jackboots: Holocaust deniers and conspiracy theorists are stepping up attacks on Germany’s Buchenwald, a potent symbol of remembrance, writes Guy Chazan.

The great wealth transfer: Compared with their parents, children often have different expectations when it comes to managing their money, writes Faith Glasgow.

Opioid epidemic: In the latest FT investigation, US officials reveal how Chinese organised crime groups are laundering money for Mexican drug cartels, fuelling the deadly fentanyl crisis.

China-India rivalry: Thousands of Chinese tech workers are struggling to get Indian visas amid souring diplomatic ties, a potential hurdle in Narendra Modi’s manufacturing ambitions.

Chart of the day

Nowhere in the world have private equity firms found a more welcoming playground than in Britain, with deals making up a greater share of the economy than in the US over the past two decades. The sector has come under renewed scrutiny, with the Labour party, now leading in the polls, planning to increase taxes on buyout bosses. Here’s how private equity has shaped the UK economy.

Take a break from the news

Albany is an enigma slap bang in the middle of London, writes Caroline Roux. These Georgian apartments, perfectly positioned where Mayfair and St James’s meet, are beloved for their very lack of glitz. Once home to Lord Byron and Greta Garbo, they are now sought after by a special kind of A-lister.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith