Zemmour: This is the “era of the struggle for civilization between Islam and Christianity”

As Jacques Chirac said: Brussels alone cannot even declare war. Stalin also asked once: how many divisions has the Pope?

HUNGARY-POLITICS-DEMOGRAPHY-SUMMIT Fotó: ATTILA KISBENEDEK

You met with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest. What did you discuss?

These same things. And I believe he understands it perfectly: the struggle of civilization between West and East, North and South. He protects his people, built a border fence, and provided a defensive strategy against deconstruction, and George Soros and the LGBTQ lobby. He is fighting on two of the most important borders of our times. The experiences he shared with me are valuable.

A relationship with the French right is visibly important for Hungary’s leaders. Marion Maréchal, former member of the National Assembly and Marine Le Pen’s niece, was also a guest of honor. 

Just that the French right is not actually right-wing – at least as far as The Republicans and their leadership are concerned. The French right succumbed to the left, and at best could be called centrist. They could even fit in next to Emmanuel Macron as they profess the same things.

You will return to France now. Will you finally announce your candidacy for president?

We will see.

Based on your new book and media appearances, you are clearly preparing for something.

This preparation gives me an opportunity to share my ideas with the French people. Though I am not an official candidate, I am the only one whose position is improving. Everyone else is stagnating or deteriorating. Marine Le Pen’s popularity plummeted ten percent in six months from 28 to 18 percent. Macron’s opponents are not doing much better: Xavier Bertrand is at 14-15 percent and Valérie Pécresse is stagnating. They have no dynamics – only I do. Of course, time is putting pressure on me too, so I will announce my decision soon.

You have around 11 percent popularity. What do you think, could you win?

Politics is not about mathematics, it’s about dynamics. I started at three percent, then I went to five, six, eight, ten and then eleven. And quite quickly may I add. We will see.

The other day you debated with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a radical left-wing candidate. What would you say to Macron if you were sitting across from him in the second or final rounds of elections next spring? Where do you think the president messed up?

I don’t think he understands the challenges of the threats to our country. Though he is young, his mind is old – as if he was living in the 70s as Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and Michel Rocard’s contemporary. He thinks that the economy is the biggest breaking points today. But no, it’s civilization, identity and the fate of our country. He did not understand what René Girard said. He is focused on where to spend two percent of the GDP. I’m not saying this isn’t important, but on the other end of the scale is France’s decline and demise. These aren’t comparable – the latter is a question of life or death.

As I noticed before, you have quite a friendly relationship with Marion Maréchal. Could you say the same of her aunt, Marine Le Pen, who is your rival on the right?

I really like Marion. I don’t have such a close relationship with her aunt.

What’s the main difference between the two women’s politics?

Le Pen chose to align herself with the political center, which I think was a tactical and strategic mistake. After all, 70 percent of French people agree with what I have to say about Islam. Many still mention the 2017 televised debate between Le Pen and Macron. As a publicist, you live off debates. Do you consider yourself a better debater? This is her other problem. She humiliated her own voters in the debate. I like to debate, but not for the sake of debate. I defend my beliefs.

And you could beat Macron?

Everything’s possible.

What is at stake in the French presidential election for a divided European Union suffering from a crisis of values?

We discussed this with Viktor Orbán and we completely agree. We must force the European Commission to return to its original competence: the management of the common market. And at the same time, they should stop trying to force the ideas of a progressive minority on the Member States, especially with the complicity of the big powers like Germany and France. We have to abandon the view shared by our elites, including Macron, that our future is the United States of Europe. We aren’t Texas and Wyoming. This is the illusion of the Euro-maniacs who are destroying sovereign nations without at least creating a sovereign Europe in its place. This is a myth, a utopia. The Germans and the Polish don’t want independent European defense politics, they always end up aligned with the United States. And Macron will not be able to achieve what Charles de Gaulle failed to achieve. In other words, the common market should be left to the European Commission, but everything else – including immigration policy and border control – should be left to the sovereign nation state, the people.

But this is not possible without action from the big Member States...

Exactly. They must push the European Commission towards this. As Jacques Chirac said: Brussels alone cannot even declare war. Stalin also asked once: how many divisions has the Pope?

Photo: Attila Kisbenedek