Napoleon Dynamite
The far-right French leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for public office for 5 years, with immediate effect. This effectively ends her 2027 presidential bid.
Le Pen has been found guilty of embezzling millions of euros from the European parliament. The leader of the far-right National Rally (RN), a frontrunner in the polls for the presidency in 2027, was among a number of party officials accused of diverting more than €3m (£2.5m) of European parliament funds to pay France-based staff.
Prosecutors have asked that Le Pen face an immediate five-year ban from public office, regardless of any appeal process, using a so-called “provisional execution” measure.
While the immediate reaction is joy at someone with such odious and toxic politics being prosecuted there are one or two caveats. First is that you don’t and you won’t stop the rise of fascism by just prosecuting it. If Le Pen and her colleagues are guilty of the embezzlement they are accused of they should be prosecuted, but we should resist thinking this will result in a halt of the far-right. These forces feed-off fear and division and hate and the failures of centrist liberal politics over a long period. These won’t go away.
The second is that, Le Pen will surely use this prosecution to paint herself as a victim, just like Trump did, and this may be effective in the swirling paranoid and conspiratorial circles of her supporters. A sign of this inevitability was the fact that she stood up and stormed out of the court midway through the verdict. She was then driven away from the courthouse.
In an interview with La Tribune Dimanche, published on Saturday ahead of the verdict, Le Pen said: “With provisional execution, the judges have the power of life or death over our movement.”
Judge Benedicte de Perthuis ruled on Monday: “The investigations also showed that these were not administrative errors … but embezzlement within the framework of a system put in place to reduce the party’s costs.”
Ms de Perthuis said Le Pen had been at the centre of a system put in place by the party to use EU funds to pay France-based staff, telling the court: “At the heart of this system since 2009, Marine Le Pen has placed herself with authority and determination in the system established by her father.”
In this the French legal system and political culture has shown itself stronger than the US one, but what happens next is crucial. As the journalist Ian Dunt has put it, the immediate framing is crucial: “Putin comes against Le Pen ruling. Authoritarians hates any possibility of legal restraint on their leadership. Trump will doubtless do the same. Journalists do not have to follow this framing. There is zero reason for them to start a report by questioning whether the ruling is democratic.”
“There are countless frames journalists can use. What’s the impact on France, or on the French far-right, or European defence? How was she able to get away with this for so long? Is the French court system more politically independent than the US one? You do not need to adopt the populist frame.”
“Ten years ago, reporters did not adopt a populist frame when reporting on political leaders in court. Instead, it was about their humiliation and fall from grace. That would still be an appropriate journalistic response now.”
The qualities – and lack thereof – of Western media is at play here. But also too is the ability of the wider European Left to respond to this opportunity with agility and foresight.
UPDATE: Marine Le Pen’s conviction has now been finalised. She is convicted to four years imprisonment and FIVE YEARS of ineligibility. She is officially OUT of the 2027 Presidential race.
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She has been sentenced to two years with a further two years suspended sentence so the very minimum she should be banned from participating in democratic process is logically 4 years.
Contrast how right wing authoritarians and their supporters rile against this verdict and how this is amplified by some sections of media with how they reported much lesser charges of internal embezzlement within SNP as the potential demise of the party.
I note that other high profile French politicians have been charged with corruption in the past and again contrast with the USA where a convicted felon who didn’t accept electoral result in 2020, tried to coerce election officials to overturn result and instigated a potential coup on 6th January 2021 and was still allowed to participate in the democratic process which he obviously disrespects.
The most important element in the political process is trust. If electors cannot trust politicians then there can be no politics.
At issue was expenses from the Euro parl to be spent on Euro Parl business. The RN decided that they could game the system.
In concrete terms, they broke the trust placed in them to spend the expenses they were given on Euro Parl business.
They didn’t – not just a little bit “ooops a mistake” but deliberately & intentionally.
They broke the trust of electors. Le Pen did this over some years – knowing what was happening. Knowing she/her party were breaking the rules.
5 years? Nah – life – all involved should be banned from politics for ever.
This principle could be/should be extended to all politicians. Break promises to voters? you are out. For ever.
When other French politicians have been found guilty of similar offences Le Pen has previously stated that those charged should be barred from standing for election for life.
The loudest mouths are often the biggest hypocrites.