All posts tagged: Jean-Marie Le Pen

AfD, Vox mingle with ex-US Border Patrol chief, white nationalist leader at ‘remigration summit’  – POLITICO

AfD, Vox mingle with ex-US Border Patrol chief, white nationalist leader at ‘remigration summit’  – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Two years later, a confident Sellner made himself available to journalists for interviews at the remigration summit, dwelling on concepts that he says are now going mainstream. “We have a very neurotic relationship to our own ethnicity, our own ethno-cultural identity and I think we need to overcome that,” Sellner told reporters at the summit, calling on Europeans to overcome their “guilt complex” and “self-loathing” stemming from “post-war consensus.” At least three AfD politicians attended the event, including Kay Gottschalk, a member of the Bundestag and one of the party’s cofounders. Gottschalk said he was there “to listen” as “a visitor.” Lena Kotré, an AfD member and representative in the Brandenburg state legislature, spoke on stage with Sven Tritschler, a member of the North Rhine-Westphalia parliament, also in attendance. Vox MPs Rocío de Meer and Carlos Quero featured on the summit’s speakers list. Activist Sammy Woodhouse, a supporter of U.K. right-wing party Restore Britain, was also among the speakers. Tensions emerged when reporters who had been accredited to cover the event were not allowed in …

Former French PM Lionel Jospin dies at 88 – POLITICO

Former French PM Lionel Jospin dies at 88 – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Jospin, a defender of traditional parties, had criticized President Emmanuel Macron for making them obsolete and the French president’s “hubris” in a book published in 2020. Macron praised Jospin as “a great French figure” in a social media post Monday. “Through his rigor, courage and ideal of progress, he embodied a lofty vision of the Republic,” Macron wrote on X. Jospin, who successfully united the left camp during his tenure as the party’s leader in the 1990s and became prime minister in 1997, supported the left-wing alliance uniting the Socialists, the Greens and far-left France Unbowed during the 2022 legislative election campaign. But he cautioned against France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s disruptive political strategy shortly after the election, warning of its potentially destructive effects on the broader left in an interview with Le Monde. Jospin’s death was announced the morning after local elections that are setting the scene for the 2027 presidential race, at a time when the left is weakened by deep divisions among moderates over whether uniting with a dominant but increasingly toxic Mélenchon is inevitable — or …

Far-left Mélenchon seizes momentum in French elections – POLITICO

Far-left Mélenchon seizes momentum in French elections – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“That’s his strategy,” said a Socialist Party adviser who, like others quoted in this story, was granted anonymity to discuss party politics. “We are capable of taking a dive in elections, but France Unbowed never takes a dive, they never go under 10 percent” in national elections, the adviser said. “But there isn’t a scenario in which he wins in a runoff vote against Bardella.” The difficulty for the moderate left is compounded by the fact that Mélenchon is one of the most charismatic politicians on the left. He has even drawn the reluctant admiration of Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal, who called him “the most cultured” politician around. But what’s true of the left is also to some extent true of the conservatives and the center right, which are enmeshed in internal squabbling to see who can assume Macron’s mantle. “What are the political offers on the table and who is there to embody them?” asked a close ally of the French president. “I can see what the extremes are offering, but in between, …

Le Pen’s far right eyes local elections as launchpad for French presidential bid – POLITICO

Le Pen’s far right eyes local elections as launchpad for French presidential bid – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The race to lead Toulon carries particular significance given the Mediterranean port city elected a far-right mayor, Jean-Marie Le Chevallier, in the mid-1990s, and remains the most populous city ever to put the party in charge. But Le Chevallier’s tenure was largely seen as a failure and he scored fewer than 8 percent of the vote when he ran for reelection.   The race to lead Toulon carries particular significance given the Mediterranean port city elected a far-right mayor, Jean-Marie Le Chevallier, in the mid-1990s. | Veronique Tournier/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images Marc Bayle, a former regional politician and expert in Toulon’s politics, said the Le Chevallier administration still carries “an image of incompetence and disorganization” that impacts how voters there view the far right.  So despite strong scores in Toulon during national elections, the National Rally’s candidate there — party spokesperson Laure Lavalette — is not using the party’s name while campaigning. Instead she’s promoting herself as a local candidate with cross-partisan support. “For political commentators and voters with a longer political memory, the National Rally’s past experiences in power are important … But for …

Forget Le Pen. French politics has a new archvillain. – POLITICO

Forget Le Pen. French politics has a new archvillain. – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“We condemn both extreme-left and extreme-right wrongdoing,” said a government official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly on the sensitive topic. “But there has been a complacency toward the far left, a sort of romanticism in France about the radical left that is dangerous.” Mélenchon, for his part, has long been a controversial figure in French politics, including for his refusal to immediately condemn the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel. That position crystallized in recent days after he praised the spirit of “resistance” of the Young Guard, a now-disbanded antifascist group that was cofounded by a France Unbowed lawmaker and accused of involvement in the fight; blamed the authorities for the violence; and attacked the National Assembly president for suspending the parliamentary aide who is now under investigation for his role in the affair. Looking further ahead, one Socialist Party official warned against counting out the savvy political veteran Jean-Luc Mélenchon with more than a year to go before the presidential election. | Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images Left gets squeezed Though …