When the week began, David Rachline was mayor of the second-largest city governed by the Rassemblement National (RN), vice president of the party, and a close friend of its leader, Jordan Bardella. But on Tuesday, December 2, his 38th birthday, the mayor of Fréjus, southern France, became an ordinary member of the far-right movement, resigning from his positions as vice president and member of the RN's executive board, just hours after being disowned by Marine Le Pen on television. It was a swift fall for this insider who, only three years ago, was one of the party's leading figures, despite his notorious antisemitic sympathies.
Pushed aside from party leadership since the publication of a book on his management of Fréjus, which led to the opening of a corruption investigation, Rachline is now paying for what Le Pen considered "a provocation," according to those close to her. On October 9, Rachline posted a photo on his personal Instagram account showing himself at a dinner in Fréjus with Frédéric Chatillon and Logan Djian, former leaders of the far-right Groupe Union Défense (GUD), both known for their nostalgia for fascist and Nazi regimes. While the pair have been officially excluded from the RN, the party made no public response after Mediapart published the photo nearly two months ago. Chatillon was a contractor for the RN until 2024.
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