The French extreme right is the protagonist of a peculiar paradox. Le Pen’s party, the National Reunification (RN) – formerly the National Front (FN) – has always viewed European construction with great skepticism, but at the same time it has been accused of embezzling Brussels money for years.
The Prosecutor’s Office in Paris announced yesterday that it has requested a process against the party as an organization and against 27 of its leaders and collaborators, including Marine Le Pen – a three-time candidate for the Élysée – and her father and founder of the ‘FN, Jean-Marie. The crime would have consisted of using the salaries received by the supposed attendees of the Eurochamber to work for the party in France.
Among those who can face one is also the current vice-president of the RN, Louis Aliot, mayor of Perpignan. Aliot held a seat as an MEP during the years in which the Prosecutor’s Office attributes irregularities.
If found guilty, the defendants could receive up to ten years in prison and a similar number of disqualifications, as well as a maximum fine of one million euros. The investigation began in March 2015, when the European Parliament announced that it had activated the EU’s Anti-Fraud Office due to the suspicions raised by the assistants of Le Pen’s MEPs. The Eurochamber, which is a civil party to the case, assessed in 2018 that the damage to its coffers due to the conduct of the FN – and then the RN – could add up to 6.8 million euros during the period between in 2009 and 2017.
The RN has always denied dishonest behavior and yesterday, after hearing the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office, he insisted on the same. According to the party, the researchers have a wrong view of the work of MEPs, “which is first and foremost a political job”. For the RN, it is normal that part of the helpers’ work is done in France and not in Brussels. Those around Le Pen were perplexed by the fact that the decision was announced during the election period.
The main party of the French far-right is already campaigning for the European elections in June next year. The RN was the most voted list in 2019, ahead of Emmanuel Macron’s party. Le Pen is chasing another, even clearer triumph, which will pave the way for a fourth attempt, this time successful, to obtain the presidency of the Republic.
It does not appear that the latest news about Le Pen’s party’s legal troubles will have any influence on Sunday’s senatorial by-elections. Every three years, half of the Upper House is renewed in a very endogamous procedure of the political class. Senators have a six-year term. They are not elected by the citizens’ vote, but indirectly, through a college of almost 80,000 voters, among whom there are deputies, senators, regional and departmental councillors, mayors and councillors. In the current Senate there is a conservative majority. The Republicans (LR) are the main party, while the RN has no senators. This time he does aspire to enter the Upper House. In any case, it is a symbolic presence – albeit a well-paid one -, because in the hour of truth the most important decisions end up being taken by the National Assembly, which is indeed elected by universal suffrage every four years.
