PARIS (Reuters) – French far-right leader Jordan Bardella on Friday cancelled his speech at the conservative CPAC conference in Washington after what he described as a Nazi salute by a speaker, an apparent reference to Steve Bannon, his National Rally (RN) party said.
Bardella, 29, president of the RN, is the right-hand-man to the party’s figurehead, Marine Le Pen, and is widely seen as a future presidential hopeful.
His trip to the United States underlined an effort by the RN to build closer ties to U.S. President Donald Trump, with whom Le Pen has had a complex relationship.
“At this podium yesterday, while I was not present in the room, one of the speakers allowed himself, as a provocation, a gesture referring to Nazi ideology,” Bardella said, without referring to Bannon, a former Trump adviser who runs the popular War Room podcast.
“Consequently, I made the immediate decision to cancel my intervention scheduled for this afternoon at the event.”
As his CPAC speech drew to a close on Thursday, Bannon stretched out his arm and raised it, before saying “Amen”, according to a video of the event.
Bannon denied he had made a Nazi salute, telling a French journalist it was a “wave”. He said that if Bardella had cancelled his appearance due to the gesture, “he’s unworthy to lead France.”
“If he’s that worried about it and wets himself like a little child, then he is unworthy and will never lead France,” Bannon said.
Billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump aide, last month made a gesture that drew online comparison to a Nazi salute but a leading tracker of antisemitism said it appeared to represent a moment of enthusiasm instead.
The RN, previously known as the National Front, used to be known for antisemitism and racism under Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, but has since become more pro-Israel amid a broader push to purge the party of toxic elements.
Those efforts have turned it into France’s largest parliamentary party, and Le Pen is widely seen as the frontrunner to be France’s next president in the 2027 election.
However, her relations with Trump have not always been smooth. He famously stood her up in 2017 during her visit to the Trump tower, but she has since appeared to warm to him.
She recently said Trump’s pressure on Colombia to receive deported migrants should be copied by France. Earlier this month, she said the RN was “the best placed in France to speak with the Donald Trump administration”.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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