Six days before her appeal judgment, which will determine whether she can run for president, Marine Le Pen affirmed on Wednesday July 1 that she is “not afraid” of the decision of the court of appeal. But, even eligible on the date of the election, she does not consider it “possible” to campaign with an electronic bracelet. The legal ax will soon fall. But “whatever happens I will not be dead, whatever happens I will continue to lead the fight for my ideas,” said the head of the National Rally on LCI.
At stake, a fourth candidacy for the Élysée. The work of a life: “a superior duty towards my country”, of which the fact of being deprived would “unquestionably be a suffering”. Sentenced at first instance to five years of ineligibility with immediate execution, for embezzlement in the affair of the European parliamentary assistants of the National Front (former name of the RN), Marine Le Pen faces the same sanction on appeal.
If this sentence is confirmed on July 7, it will be impossible for him to try his luck again. In which case his successor Jordan Bardella, president of the RN, will wear the colors of the party in this election. To hope to be able to participate in the competition, the sentence would have to be reduced to two years or less of ineligibility. But the “natural candidate” of the French far right also faces four years in prison, including one under an electronic bracelet.
A dissuasive constraint in his eyes: “If it involves authorizing me to be a candidate, but in reality preventing me from running a campaign completely freely, you understand that that will not be possible.” Because from the height of her triple experience in the matter, she considers that “when you are a presidential candidate, you must be completely free in your movements” and that she cannot “depend on a magistrate to authorize (her) to go to a meeting in Romorantin or go to a market in Hénin-Beaumont”.
“I have thick skin”
Setting the conditions of her candidacy herself, Marine Le Pen defers to her judges, and in passing passes on to them their heavy responsibility. “It no longer depends on me (…) I measure the weight that must weigh today on the shoulders of magistrates,” she slips.
While displaying the “resilience” of someone who has seen others: “I have a little tough skin, so if someone is trying to kill me, they better have a very sharp blade.” Boldly, she says she is “calm and serene” as the verdict approaches. “No, I’m not afraid,” she says. “Fear is a feeling that is unfamiliar to me. When you lead a fight like I did (…) and as I will continue to fight it whatever happens, fear has no place.”
In any case, Jordan Bardella is ready to take over, with “the strength and breath of his youth”. But also with its own suspicions of fictitious employment, and irregular expenses in Brussels, objects this week of a new complaint and searches in several countries. Enough to hinder his possible entry into the campaign.
“I no longer believe in chance” regarding these legal proceedings less than a year before the presidential election, says Marine Le Pen. “It always happens at the moment when, potentially, it could have a harmful influence.”
Also obliged to defend her replacement for her relationship with Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon of the Two Sicilies – “leave them alone” – Marine Le Pen must at the same time give assurances to those who doubt that she would leave her free reign. “Never in my life do I see myself in the position of a guardian,” she swears to better deny the words of one of her spokespersons, MP Philippe Ballard, the same morning on franceinfo.
“I leave Jordan absolutely, totally free,” insists the one who had to deal fifteen years ago with her own father Jean-Marie Le Pen who remained “extremely present in (his) decisions”. No question of repeating the mistake: “I will not do the same thing to Jordan”.
