De Benoit long adhered to ethnic nationalist ideas although sought to develop a form of nationalism that deconstructed the nation-state. GRECE promoted the replacement of the French Republic with a "a federal republic of French peoples" which would in turn form part of a wider ethnic federation of European peoples. According to the ND, the ethnic-region would not have need to establish draconian laws against immigrants who were ethnically different, but would have impenetrable cultural barriers to keep them out. Ideas about such a regionalised federal Europe are akin to those of earlier far right and fascist thinkers like Drieu La Rochelle, Dominique Venner and Jean Mabire. In his analysis of the ND's beliefs about their ideal future, Spektorowski states that any society established along the ND lines would resemble apartheid-era South Africa, would be a form of totalitarianism based on the politics of identity, and would be "a permanent nightmare for old immigrants and for political and ideological dissenters".