Marine Le Pen says corruption case could block presidential run
Marine Le Pen has asked Jordan Bardella, her top lieutenant, to prepare to replace her as presidential candidate for the hard-right National Rally if the appeal court upholds a bar on her entering the 2027 election.
The 56-year-old populist, who is far ahead in the polling in her planned fourth run for the French presidency, was acknowledging for the first time that her conviction in March for embezzling EU funds could block her path to the Élysée Palace.
Her words were a boost for her 29-year-old protégé who was elected president of the party in 2022. It is also part of a shift she is making to broaden the Rally's appeal to the conservative voters whom it needs to win in 2027.
Le Pen was barred from standing for public office for five years, but, amid an outcry, the justice authorities fast-tracked her appeal so the case will be retried from scratch next spring with a verdict expected about a year before the spring 2027 elections.
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Reuters
16 minutes ago
- Reuters
Following NATO summit, Trump and Europe still at odds over Putin's ambitions
THE HAGUE, June 26 (Reuters) - For U.S. President Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin is a man looking for an off-ramp to his bloody three-year assault on Ukraine. But according to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the Russian leader may be just getting started. If the alliance does not invest in its defense capabilities, Rutte warned the annual NATO summit on Tuesday, Russia could attack an alliance country within three years. By most measures, this year's NATO summit in The Hague was a success. Member states largely agreed to a U.S. demand to boost defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product. Trump, who once derided the alliance as a "rip-off," said his view had changed, while a budding bromance blossomed between him and Rutte, who compared the U.S. president to a stern "daddy" managing his geopolitical underlings. But the summit, which ended on Wednesday, also highlighted the widening gap between how the U.S. and Europe see the military ambitions of Russia, the bloc's main foil. That is despite some lawmakers in Trump's own Republican Party hardening their rhetoric in recent weeks, arguing that while the president's ambition to negotiate an end to Russia's war in Ukraine is laudable, it is now clear that Putin is not serious about coming to the table. In a Wednesday press conference, Trump conceded that it was "possible" Putin had territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine. But he insisted that the Russian leader - buffeted by manpower and materiel losses - wanted the war to end quickly. "I know one thing: He'd like to settle," Trump said. "He'd like to get out of this thing. It's a mess for him." Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed Trump's view in a sideline interview with Politico, saying the U.S. was holding off on expanding its sanctions against Moscow, in part to keep talks going. "If we did what everybody here wants us to do - and that is come in and crush them with more sanctions - we probably lose our ability to talk to them about the ceasefire," he said. The message from others at the summit was starkly different. A senior NATO official told reporters in a Tuesday briefing that Putin was not in fact interested in a ceasefire - or in engaging in good-faith talks at all. "Regardless of battlefield dynamics, we continue to doubt that Russia has any interest in meaningful negotiations," the official said. Russia's ambitions, the senior official said, go beyond control of "certain territories at their administrative lines," as Rubio put it. Putin is instead bent on imposing his "political will" on neighboring states. Rutte put the Russian threat in existential terms. "If we do not invest now," he said on Tuesday, "we are really at risk that the Russians might try something against NATO territory in three, five or seven years." The U.S. is not the only NATO member with a more optimistic view of Russia. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a longtime Trump ally and critic of European institutions, said Russia was "not strong enough to represent a real threat to NATO." Still, as the alliance's largest contributor and most powerful member, Washington's position is a central preoccupation in most NATO capitals. The White House, asked for comment, referred to Trump's comments at the Wednesday press conference. In response to a request for comment, a separate NATO official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, disputed that there were differing assessments within the alliance, pointing to a NATO declaration on Wednesday which referenced the "long-term threat posed by Russia." The Russian embassy in Washington referred to Thursday comments by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who criticized NATO for wasting money on defense. "It seems that only by invoking the fabricated 'Russian threat' will it be possible to explain to ordinary people why their pockets are being emptied once again," she said. The U.S. State Department and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. The lack of a common understanding about Putin's goals will complicate future diplomatic plans to wind down the war, said Philippe Dickinson, the deputy director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council and a former British diplomat. "To reach a peace agreement, it's not just something that Trump and Putin can agree themselves," Dickinson said. "There does need to be European involvement. That needs to mean that there is some sort of sharing of views among allies on what Putin is trying to achieve." European leaders likely have not given up on trying to change Trump's views on Russia, Dickinson said. But they were always unlikely bring up thorny conversations at the NATO summit. The alliance's main goal was to simply get through it without major blowups, he said, an aim that was accomplished. Still, peace came at a cost - the lack of substantive discussion around Ukraine and Russia, he argued, was conspicuous. "The lack of a Russia strategy is a real glaring omission from what the summit could have produced," Dickinson said.
BreakingNews.ie
22 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Garda seeks restraining order against superior for harassment and bullying
A garda and his wife are using anti-stalking laws to secure a civil restraining order against a high-ranking superior officer claiming harassment and bullying. They lodged an application at Dublin District Court, which came before Judge Aine Clancy on Thursday. Advertisement The proceedings are being held in camera, meaning the public cannot attend, and parties involved cannot be identified due to reporting restrictions. Brian Gageby BL, instructed by the Chief State Solicitor's Office, acted for the respondent, and the judge noted that they had filed a 63-page affidavit. Counsel described it as an unusual case where the applicants have alleged bullying and harassment; however, the senior officer's case was that he was acting in the course of his duty. The couple are representing themselves. Advertisement The garda's wife said the respondent's affidavit amounted to misinformation, which she described as horrendous. Her husband also contended that the manner in which the documents were served on him "has caused severe distress and personal alarm to me and my family." He added that in future, he was agreeable to collecting any further material from a Garda premises, and he raised concerns that at an earlier stage in the proceedings, other gardaí were in court as part of a police plan allegedly at the request of the respondent. The couple have summoned six other officers to give evidence, and the respondent has already given a personal assurance to stay away from the couple, their home, children and pets. Ireland Woman tells court of sexual abuse by her mother, u... Read More Mr Gageby said that there was no difficulty with that continuing. Advertisement Judge Clancy ordered the officer and his wife to file responding affidavits by July 30, and the case will be listed for mention the following day. She set aside a whole day for the hearing of the action in early October. The civil restraining orders were introduced in the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 as a measure for people seeking protection. The District Court may issue an order to prevent the respondent from violence or threats, stalking, harassing or approaching the applicant's home, work, or school. It can run for up to five years but may be shorter. Breaking it could mean jail for up to a year and a maximum of €4,000 fine.
The Sun
36 minutes ago
- The Sun
Taxpayers will be left counting the cost for years to come if Labour rebels block welfare cuts
Taking the PIP FOR those Labour MPs excitedly plotting against the PM while virtue-signalling about the cruelty of cutting benefits, we have a reality check. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the welfare Bill would actually RISE by a further £8billion even if the changes were fully implemented. Spending on health-related benefits would reach a whopping £61billion by the end of the decade. That's up by £25billion on the figure in 2019-20, before Covid. If Labour rebels block the changes, this figure balloons to £66billion. It now looks inevitable Starmer will be forced to retreat, having abandoned his pledge to stand firm and instead offering 'conversations' with the rebels. Labour MPs might well feel better and pat themselves on the back on Twitter for being 'progressive' — once again the buzzword of the Left. But taxpayers will be left counting the cost for years to come. The PM, meanwhile, stands seriously weakened less than a year after winning a landslide. What a self-inflicted disaster. Angela Rayner says lifting 2-child benefit cap not 'silver bullet' for ending poverty after demanding cuts for millions Red-handed DO as I say, not as I do. They should carve that mantra in stone above the entrance to the Department of Energy. Ed Miliband loves telling ordinary folk to make expensive sacrifices to save the planet. Yet it's somehow no surprise that His Greenness flew at least one Net Zero official on a 10,000-mile round-trip to Brazil on a pointless mission to check whether hotels they considered booking for him and his team were suitable. Apparently we must all ditch the gas boilers that keep us warm. But pumping out tonnes of CO2 is completely fine if it's in pursuit of a perfect hotel suite for the minister. Miliband's hypocrisy will probably go down badly with the Climate Change Committee quango. It says his failure to lift expensive green levies from electricity bills means punters aren't buying enough electric cars or heat pumps. It seems even his eco warrior mates don't think he's up to the job. No to Nanny BRITS generally hate being told what to do — especially when it makes no sense. So why don't the busybodies presiding over our increasingly nanny state just leave us alone? Since when was having a pint or a flutter such a danger to society? Why must we constantly be told to watch where we're going, hold the handrail, mind our heads and our words — even our thoughts? No one asked for any of this. Nanny doesn't know best. We do.
