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“A French court on Monday convicted Marine Le Pen of embezzlement and barred her from seeking public office for five years… Le Pen was runner-up to Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, and her party’s electoral support has grown in recent years… Le Pen denounced the verdict in an interview with French TV channel TF1 as a ‘political’ move aimed at preventing her from running in the 2027 presidential election…
“She and 24 other party officials were accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to instead pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, violating the 27-nation bloc’s regulations… The chief judge said Le Pen had been at the heart of ‘a system’ that her party used to siphon off EU parliament funds, though she said they didn’t enrich themselves personally.” AP News
Here’s our coverage of the French parliamentary elections last year. The Flip Side
The left generally approves of the verdict, arguing that nobody is above the law.
“For more than a decade, from 2004 to 2016, Le Pen’s [party] operated an organised scheme to embezzle public funds by creating fictitious parliamentary assistant jobs at the European parliament, and to break other financial rules, in effect using European public money to finance a debt-ridden party domestically…
“During the time that the embezzlement was under way, the FN/RN was heavily indebted to a Kremlin-connected Russian bank. Paying off the debt helped the party claim it no longer maintained inappropriate links to Vladimir Putin’s power circle – would it have been able to do so without the misused funds? And would it have been as competitive in the elections it contested without the unfair advantage of fraudulent finances?”
Alexander Hurst, The Guardian
“If the presiding judge threw the book at Le Pen, it’s because of the magnitude of a ‘system’ that lasted more than a decade and diverted millions of European Union funds for domestic activities — and because the far-right leader showed no remorse, insisting Monday evening that she was innocent and the victim of a political stitch-up…
“It’s perhaps ironic that her best chance at a populist victory in France is being undone by a law intended to quell populist ire over corrupt politicians. Yet while the law is having its day, it may only be for a day.”
Lionel Laurent, Bloomberg
“Among sections of an electorate that already take a highly jaundiced view of governing elites, playing the victim could produce political dividends. But those charged with delivering justice in liberal democracies cannot be concerned with such calculations…
“The current level of Ms Le Pen’s political support does not place her above the law, and nor was it appropriate for it to play any part in the reasoning of the judges. A leader willing to facilitate systematic corruption in political processes for more than a decade deserves to forfeit the right to seek the honour of her country’s highest office.”
Editorial Board, The Guardian
Some argue, “No one is above the law, and the court could not rule based on Le Pen’s personal popularity. But banning candidates from running for office due to financial crimes is highly dubious. The damaging effect on the democratic choice seems out of proportion to the crime in question…
“As left-wing party France Insoumise pointed out in a statement, the Rassemblement National’s claim to be uniquely ‘clean’ and stand against a corrupt establishment is in tatters. But that is for the electorate to judge… The sentence applies the law as written, but it turns her embezzlement conviction into a propaganda coup for her party… It’s probable that the ban on Marine Le Pen running for office will backfire.”
David Broder, Jacobin Magazine
The right is critical of the verdict, arguing that Le Pen is being targeted because of her popularity among voters.
The right is critical of the verdict, arguing that Le Pen is being targeted because of her popularity among voters.
“Follow the Money, an investigative news outlet, reported that, between 2019 and 2022, 139 European lawmakers, nearly one in five, likely misused the allowance that supposedly tripped up Ms. Le Pen…
“In most of those European Parliament cases, the controversy ended after the lawmakers repaid the money. Le Monde reports that Ms. Le Pen repaid €330,000 in 2023 with no admission of guilt. Yet French prosecutors and the court have now thrown the book at Ms. Le Pen…
“Ms. Le Pen’s real crime in the eyes of traditional politicians and media is her popularity. She has gained ground in successive presidential elections, and opinion polls suggest she’d stand a good chance of winning the presidency in the next election in 2027… Maybe one of these days the world’s champions of democracy will trust democracy, rather than trying—and often failing—to win elections in the courtroom.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“Paying staff with money meant for other purposes is not uncommon. The party of French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was found guilty of doing so last year, although the prime minister himself was acquitted for lack of evidence…
“Her offense was, it seems, not very different from the bookkeeping ‘crimes’ for which Trump was convicted by rogue partisan prosecutor Alvin Bragg in Manhattan last year. Bragg started from the premise that he would nail Trump and, from there, proceeded to froth up 34 charges that carried a maximum of more than a century in prison for mislabeling hush money… Will lawfare backfire in France the way it backfired in America?”
Hugo Gurdon, Washington Examiner
“Democracy is imperiled across what used to be known as the Free World… In Romania, the presidential election was abruptly canceled as final voting was about to begin, apparently because populist candidate Călin Georgescu appeared likely to win. In Brazil, former President Jair Bolsonaro is charged with attempting a coup, after some of his supporters ‘stormed’ government buildings following his 2022 re-election defeat. Bolsonaro was out of the country when the alleged ‘storming’ occurred…
“In Germany, the entire political system has been distorted to achieve a single goal: keeping the Alternative For Germany, that country’s second-leading vote-getter, from any role in government. And, of course and most significantly, here in the U.S. the Democratic Party brought three ridiculous criminal prosecutions against Donald Trump… Liberals love to talk about democracy, but only as long as they are winning. As soon as it appears that they may lose, democracy goes out the window.”
John Hinderaker, Power Line Blog
Meet Mr. Pugsley Addams, the purr-fect cat with the longest tail measuring over 1.5 feet.
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