This is an opportunity to respond to the accusations for Marine Le Pen. The leader of the parliamentary group Rassemblent nationale (RN) in the National Assembly is heard on Wednesday afternoon by the parliamentary commission of inquiry into foreign interference. The hearing concerns the Russian loan from which the far-right party benefited in 2014. A commission launched by its parliamentary group, in order, in particular, to put an end to the accusations making the far-right party an agent of Russian influence In France. 20 minutes sums it up for you.
What are we talking about ?
We are two years after the election of François Hollande and the failure of Marine Le Pen to climb beyond 18% of the vote. At the time, in 2014, the National Rally was still called the National Front and has not yet succeeded in its bet of demonization of facade. It is difficult, according to the explanations of the party executives, to recover from this defeat and find financing, especially from French and Western banks. This is why Marine Le Pen is turning to another solution. “We could only find on the Chinese side, Iran, or Russia: Marine Le Pen considered that Russia was the best,” Jean-Pierre told the parliamentary commission of inquiry. Luc Schaffhauser, former FN MEP, on May 4.
A loan of 9.4 million euros was finally concluded in 2014 with a Czech-Russian bank, whose debt was taken over by various companies following cascading bankruptcies, which are still being reimbursed.
Why is this loan a problem?
However. Vladimir Putin, already at the time, is an infrequent leader. He has just forcibly annexed Ukrainian Crimea and is waging a war in the Donbass alongside the pro-Russian separatists. The question is whether this loan was granted to the far-right party with counterparties or political pressure. In any case, this is what Marine Le Pen is accused of by her political opponents, and in the first place Emmanuel Macron. The latest example to date: during the last debate between the two rounds of the presidential campaign, the president, candidate for re-election, felt that the far-right candidate was speaking “to [son] banker when she talks about Russia. »
During his hearing in early May, Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, for his part, assured that this loan had not generated requests for political counterparties. “If I had felt political pressure, we would have found another solution,” he insisted. Then asked about the “chance” between “Marine Le Pen’s position in favor of the Russian annexation of Crimea and, a few weeks later, the fact that there is a loan which is realized”, the former MEP evaded by arguing that the then president of the party “knew her history. »
Why this commission of inquiry?
Critics from political opponents of the RN prompted the parliamentary group led by Marine Le Pen to launch the commission of inquiry at the end of 2022, precisely to try to cut short the accusations. The chairman of this commission is also the deputy RN Jean-Philippe Tanguy. The other camps then denounce a “diversion” of the National Rally. After the hearing of Jean-Luc Schaffhauser twenty days ago, the Macronist majority and in particular the rapporteur of the commission of inquiry, the Renaissance deputy Constance Le Grip, decided to summon the main person concerned in person. “We said from the start that Marine Le Pen would be at the disposal of the commission of inquiry, we have not changed our minds”, then recalled Jean-Philippe Tanguy, considering however “that no new fact brought to light by previous hearings does not justify this hearing. »
The hearing of the unsuccessful candidate for three presidential elections is scheduled for 2 p.m. Jean-Philippe Tanguy will delegate the presidency of the commission, probably to Modem deputy Laurent Esquenet-Goxes, one of the vice-presidents of the commission. The floor will be given to all members of the committee and, time permitting, to two deputies representing the Communist and Liot (independent) groups. The report of the commission must be written on May 26 and its conclusions officially presented in early June.
What did we learn from Jean-Luc Schaffhauser’s hearing?
During his hearing, the former MEP claimed to be a “great connoisseur of Russia”, a supporter of a “Christian Europe up to the Urals”, a member of Opus Dei, a supporter of Bashar al -Assad but destroyer of the United States and Protestantism “based on money. “His answers sometimes confused the members of the commission, up to RN Jean-Philippe Tanguy, anxious to emphasize that the convictions of his interlocutor were “in opposition” to those of the National Front, which became the National Rally.
Jean-Luc Schaffhauser had also acknowledged during his hearing that he had met the Russian president, “but in a professional setting, not as an elected official”, while also arguing, in the course of another answer, that “it is obvious that if the power in place [Vladimir Poutine] was against, the case [du prêt] would not have happened. »