France, April 20 -- Arriving at the lunch with the executive board of the leading employers' organisation, Bardella said he hadn't come for a "school interview" and that he expected "concrete proposals from Medef for the recovery of French business".

The lunch, part of a series of Medef meetings with leaders of France's main political parties, comes a few days after a dinner between RN figurehead Marine Le Pen and several CAC 40 business leaders, including France's richest man Bernard Arnault.

Asked about RN's seeming shift towards more liberal economic politics, Bardella replied that he believed "in the freedom to do business".

"I am not left-wing, I do not view business with disdain," he told reporters. "The recovery of the Fren...