Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right Rassemblement national party (formerly the Front national), has been sent for trial for posting images of atrocities carried out by the so-called Islamic State group, under the charge of spreading “violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity”, which carries a maximum three-year jail sentence.
The European Election results in France have confirmed that Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National – the former Front National – is once again the main opposition in the country to President Emmanuel Macron and his ruling La République en Marche. But outside of that polarised duel the rest of the French political landscape has been shattered,with an abstention rate of 49%. On the Left the environmentalists came top with 13% while on the Right the conservative Les Républicains – the party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy – has collapsed, picking up just 8% of the vote. Stéphane Alliès and Lénaïg Bredoux analyse the results in France.
Following revelations of previously unseen footage of US President Donald Trump's former advisor Steve Bannon taking part in discussions in London with France's far-right Rassemblement National party, broadcast by a French TV current affairs programme and during which he was invited and accepted to discuss with the party's sympathisers from among France's high-ranking civil servants, has prompted calls for a parliamentary inquiry.
To fund its campaign for this month’s European Parliament elections, the French far-right Rassemblement National party (the renamed Front National) has raised around 4 million euros through so-called “patriotic” loans from its members and supporters, to who it has promised a 5% interest rate. The party will submit the amounts raised, with interest, in its application for a post-election refund of campaign spending that is granted to parties and paid out of the public purse. The generous interest payments paid to its lending members and supporters will cost the taxpayer around 200,000 euros, and the party says it plans employing the same strategy in future elections. Marine Turchi reports.
Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) party, formally the Front National, has refused to submit to court-ordered psychiatric tests in a judicial investigation into her posting of 'violent images' including pictures of the killing of the American reporter James Foley – a few weeks after jihadists killed 130 people in attacks in Paris in November 2015.
In a speech on Sunday to supporters of her Rassemblement National (National Rally) party in the southern French town of Fréjus, far-right leader Marine Le Pen said her party would campaign 'in liaison' with its Europe of Nations and Freedom party allies for next May’s European Parliament elections, which President Emmanuel Macron has billed as a battle between anti-immigrant populists like Le Pen and pro-European Union progressives like himself.
Mediapart has obtained a copy of the contract for the 9 million euro loan that a Russian bank gave to France's far-right Front National (FN) in 2014. The document answers some of the questions in this murky affair but many remain. The bank later went bankrupt, its former director is wanted for alleged misappropriation of funds, the FN's loan has been sold on at least twice, and it is still not clear to whom it has to be repaid. Marine Turchi and Agathe Duparc report.
