During the protest movement against the pension reform of 2010 his public stature grew thanks to his many public and television appearances. He was also the candidate of that coalition in the 2012 presidential election, at the outcome of which he came in fourth, receiving 11.1% of the votes. He is a candidate in the 2017 presidential election "outside the frame of political parties", and founded the movement "Unsubmissive France" (FI) in February 2016.