Le Pen verdict triggers uproar from far right in France and beyond, amid fist pumps in Paris
PARIS (AP) — The thunderclap court ruling barring far-right politician Marine Le Pen from office for the immediate future reverberated across the political spectrum of France and Europe on Monday.
Her supporters branded the verdict an assault on democracy while detractors reacted with fist-pumping celebration, though even some of her critics wondered whether the court decision went too far.
Long seen as a top contender for France's 2027 presidential election and a potential leader-in-waiting of the Eurozone's second economy, Le Pen was convicted of embezzling European Union funds and barred from holding public office for five years.
Europe's far right closes ranks
The ruling drew swift and scathing responses from Le Pen's political kin across Europe, many of whom viewed the court's decision as an existential threat to their own movements.
'I am shocked by the incredibly tough verdict against Marine Le Pen. I support and believe in her 100% and I trust she will win the appeal and become President of France,' said Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders.
In Italy, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini warned, 'The ruling against Marine Le Pen is a declaration of war by Brussels.'
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared, 'I am Marine.'
Tom Van Grieken of Belgium's Vlaams Belang called the decision 'an attack on democracy,' and added: 'Marine Le Pen can continue to count on our support.'
Spain's Vox party leader Santiago Abascal insisted, 'They will not succeed in silencing the voice of the French people.'
From Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, 'More and more European capitals are going down the path of trampling over democratic norms.'
A martyr in the making?
In France, where Le Pen had fought for decades to mainstream her far-right politics, the reaction within her camp was incendiary.
Jordan Bardella, her handpicked successor as president of the National Rally, used the language of political martyrdom to describe the moment.
'Today it is not only Marine Le Pen who was unjustly condemned: it is French democracy that was killed,' Bardella said.
Éric Zemmour, another prominent far-right voice and former presidential candidate, said 'It is not for judges to decide who the people must vote for.'
From the plaza, relief and rage
In Paris's Republic Plaza, where public demonstrations often unfold, Le Pen detractors punched the air in celebration.
'We were here in this square to celebrate the death of her father,' said Jean Dupont, 45, a schoolteacher. 'And this is now the death of Le Pen's presidential ambitions.'
Sophie Martin, 34, a graphic designer, was among those in a celebratory mood. 'I had to check the date—I thought it was April Fool's Day,' she said. 'But it's not. She's finally been knocked down. We've lived with her poison in our politics for too long.'
Still, not everyone welcomed the ruling. Lucien Bernard, 64, a retired civil servant, expressed concern. 'It's a sad day for democracy,' he said. 'Whether you love or hate her, the people should not be denied a chance to express their vote in a country that is supposedly a leading Western democracy.'
The left responds with restraint
Even from the left, where Le Pen has long been a reviled figure, the tone was complex. The far-left France Unbowed party acknowledged the seriousness of the charges but warned against judicial overreach.
'We take note of this decision by the courts,' the party said, 'even though we reject on principle that legal recourse should be impossible for any defendant.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Bulgaria could break the euro. EU leaders will only have themselves to blame
Its inflation was in double digits only a couple of years ago. It has had seven elections over the last two years. Corruption is endemic and it has few major industries. Bulgaria is hardly anyone's idea of a stable economy. But, hey, never mind any of that. The European Central Bank (ECB) has had a great idea. Let's merge its currency with that of Germany, Belgium and France. What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot, as it happens. As Greece showed 15 years ago, hustling a country into the eurozone before it is ready can bring the entire currency crashing down. The euro survived the Greek crisis, just about – but that doesn't mean it will necessarily survive Bulgaria. It certainly marks another major step forward for the euro. On Wednesday, both Brussels and the ECB confirmed that Bulgaria had finally met all the criteria for joining the euro. The formal decision is expected in July and the replacement of the lev will take place on Jan 1 next year. We can expect a ponderous speech from Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, about how the European family is expanding. There'll be some grand claims from Christine Lagarde,the ECB president (assuming she hasn't quit to run Davos instead by then) about how the euro is finally taking its place on the world stage. And there'll be some fireworks as well, as the old currency is quietly buried and the new notes and coins are introduced. Of course, on one level that will be a victory for the single currency. Bulgaria will be the 21st nation to adopt the euro, and the fact that new countries keep joining is certainly a sign of its strength, even if the really successful economies in central Europe, such as the rapidly growing Poland, show absolutely no interest in having anything to do with it. And initially it won't actually make a huge difference to the economy. The lev is already tied to the euro by a currency board, meaning it can neither appreciate or devalue. The trouble is, it is very hard to see how Bulgaria can be seen as part of a natural currency zone with Germany and France. One problem is that many of the electorate don't seem to want the euro very much. There was a rally in Sofia last weekend protesting against the decision, and the country's independent president Rumen Radev has already proposed a referendum on the issue, a demand criticised by the government as 'sabotage'. You might hope for a bit more of a settled consensus on an issue as important as adopting a new currency. Still, leaving aside that point, it is the fundamental economics that are more worrying. To start with, Bulgaria is one of the poorest countries in the EU, with a GDP per capita of $15,800 (£11,700) according to World Bank data, compared with $54,000 in Germany and $44,000 in France. It is not exactly a minor gap to put it mildly. It has continually missed its inflation targets, with the rate hitting 16pc as recently as 2022. And it has bitterly divided politics, with a bewildering succession of elections, having had eight prime ministers since 2020, if we include caretaker administrations. Even worse, it is not as if Bulgaria even has a great record of paying back its creditors. For much of the post-war period it was of course part of the Soviet bloc, but before that, it defaulted on its debts in 1915 and 1932. Admittedly, that is a better record than Greece, which has defaulted on its debts six times over the last couple of hundred years, but for much of the 19th century Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire which was hardly known for its financial stability either. Over any reasonable time frame, it does not look like a very good bet for bond investors. Likewise, the lev has been through four incarnations since Bulgaria became an independent country, with the latest re-denomination in 1999, when one new lev replaced 1,000 of the old ones. Again, it is not a currency that has been a great place to store your life savings. Fifteen years have now passed since the Greek financial crisis erupted, rocking the eurozone, which is probably long enough for most of its main lessons to have been forgotten. It had multiple causes, but the nub of it was this. Greece was hustled into the zone before it was ready and before its economy had merged with its more developed neighbours, encouraging its politicians to borrow recklessly in a currency that was as good as Germany's and running up debts that turned out not to be sustainable. Eventually, the whole house of cards came crashing down, threatening the stability of the banking system right across the continent. It triggered a cascading series of crises that caught up Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland from which it took years to recover and forced the ECB to launch a bailout that everyone had assumed was ruled out by the treaties. In reality, Bulgaria is Greece on roller skates. Sure, the zone managed to recover from the Greek crisis, and has put itself back on a firmer financial footing. But it was a long hard slog, a decade was lost, and Greece suffered the worst collapse in output of any developed nation since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The zone may get lucky and Bulgaria may integrate seamlessly into the wider European financial system. And yet the blunt truth is this. Admitting Bulgaria into the zone is a very big risk, and a decision that has been made on purely political grounds. It may well end up crashing the system all over again – and the leaders of the zone will only have themselves to blame. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Boasts of ‘Big Win' Over ‘Fake News' AP After Court Rules White House Can Ban News Outlet's Access Over Its Refusal to Cite ‘Gulf of America'
A federal appeals court ruled that the White House has the latitude to exclude any journalists it chooses from the Oval Office and other 'restricted areas' — including on the basis of a news outlet's 'viewpoint.' The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in a 2-1 decision Friday, ruled against the AP, which had sued three Trump administration officials in February over a ban on the news organization's access to presidential events as part of the White House press pool. The White House blocked the AP after the outlet continued referring to the body of water on the southeastern periphery of the North America as the Gulf of Mexico, after Trump decreed on Jan. 20 that henceforth it should be known as the 'Gulf of America.' More from Variety Seth Meyers Roasts Elon Musk for Waiting Until Now to Allege 'That Trump Might Be a Pedophile': 'You Already Knew That and It Wasn't a Dealbreaker' Elon Musk Claims Donald Trump 'Is in the Epstein Files': 'That Is the Real Reason They Haven't Been Made Public' Donald Trump Says Elon Musk Has 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' as Rift Grows: 'I Don't Know If We Will' Have a 'Great Relationship' Anymore The development was welcomed by President Trump. 'Big WIN over AP today. They refused to state the facts or the Truth on the GULF OF AMERICA. FAKE NEWS!!!' Trump posted on his Truth Social account Friday. The Gulf of Mexico has been known by that name since at least the late 16th century, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. The appeals court issued a stay, pending appeal, on a lower court's preliminary injunction holding that the Trump administration cannot discriminate against the AP over the Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America issue. Under the First Amendment, Judge Trevor McFadden wrote in the April decision, 'if the Government opens its doors to some journalists — be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere — it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints.' In the ruling Friday, the appeals court disagreed. 'Restricted presidential spaces' such as the Oval Office and Air Force One 'are not First Amendment fora opened for private speech and discussion,' Judge Neomi Rao wrote in the ruling, joined by Judge Gregory Katsas. 'The White House therefore retains discretion to determine, including on the basis of viewpoint, which journalists will be admitted.' Both of the judges are Trump appointees. 'If the president sits down for an interview with [Fox News host] Laura Ingraham, he is not required to do the same with [MSNBC's] Rachel Maddow,' Rao wrote in the opinion. 'The First Amendment does not control the president's discretion in choosing with whom to speak or to whom to provide special access.' The two judges added that without a stay, 'the government will suffer irreparable harm because the injunction impinges on the President's independence and control over his private workspaces.' In a dissenting opinion, Judge Cornelia Pillard of the D.C. Court of Appeals, an Obama appointee, wrote that 'my colleagues assert a novel and unsupported exception to the First Amendment's prohibition of viewpoint-based restrictions of private speech — one that not even the government itself advanced.' She said that 'if the White House were privileged to exclude journalists based on viewpoint, each and every member of the White House press corps would hesitate to publish anything an incumbent administration might dislike.' The Associated Press indicated that it will continue its legal fight in the matter. 'We are disappointed in the court's decision and are reviewing our options,' AP spokesman Patrick Maks said in a statement Friday. According to the AP's report on the ruling, one possibility is that the news organization will seek an expedited review of the full case on its merits. The AP's lawsuit names White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt as defendants. On Friday, Leavitt trumpeted the appeals court decision. 'VICTORY!' she wrote in a post on X. 'As we've said all along, the Associated Press is not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in other sensitive locations. Thousands of other journalists have never been afforded the opportunity to cover the President in these privileged spaces.' Leavitt continued, 'Moving forward, we will continue to expand access to new media so that more people can cover the most transparent President in American history rather than just the failing legacy media. And by the way @AP, it's still the Gulf of America.' She ended the post with a smiley-face emoji and the U.S. flag. Best of Variety 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Animated Program — Can Netflix Score Big With 'Arcane,' 'Devil May Cry' and the Final Season of 'Big Mouth?'
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
Russian drones and missiles target Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv, killing 3, officials say
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A large Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv on Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring 21, local Ukrainian officials said. The Russian barrage — the latest in near daily widescale attacks by Moscow — included deadly aerial glide bombs that have become part of fierce Russian attacks in the three-year war. Kharkiv's mayor Ihor Terekhov said the attack also damaged 18 apartment buildings and 13 private homes. Citing preliminary data, he said Russia used 48 Shahed drones, two missiles and four aerial glide bombs in the attack. The intensity of the Russian attacks on Ukraine over the past weeks has further dampened hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon days — especially after Kyiv recently embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia. The attack also came aftert U.S. President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine's attack on Sunday on Russian military airfields. It was also hours after Trump said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia 'fight for a while' before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump's comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signaled he may be giving up on recent peace efforts.
