Several far-right and nationalist figures in Europe and beyond, including the leader of Spain’s Vox party, voiced their support for Marine Le Pen on Monday, after a French court barred her from running for office for five years.
Le Pen was found guilty of misusing European Parliament funds by employing assistants who were actually working for her far-right party in France.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal (in main image with Le Pen in January 2022 in Madrid) condemned the French court’s decision, insisting, ‘They will never succeed to silence the voice of the French people.’
His comments were echoed by European far-right figures such as Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, while the world’s richest person Elon Musk, an advisor to US President Donald Trump, also chipped in, accusing the ‘radical left’ of using their ‘standard playbook throughout the world’. He predicted the ruling would ‘backfire, like the legal attacks against President Trump’.
Drawing a parallel with Le Pen’s case to his own legal challenges in the US Trump himself said, ‘She was banned from running for five years and she was the leading candidate. That sounds like this country.’
The Kremlin reacted even before the full verdict of Le Pen’s court hearing was announced, with Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov lamenting that ‘more and more European capitals are going down the path of violating democratic norms’.”.
For Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, the verdict ‘targets the leader of a major party and deprives millions of citizens of representation’.
Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter from Spain in English.
Please support Spain in English with a donation.
Click here to get your business activity or services listed on our DIRECTORY.
Click here for further details on how to ADVERTISE with us.
