The Kremlin slammed a French court verdict Monday that disqualified far-right Marine Le Pen from running in the 2027 presidential election.
Other right-wing allies of National Rally figurehead Le Pen — from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Italian League party boss Matteo Salvini to Dutch firebrand Geert Wilders — also rallied to her defense after a stunning court decision found her guilty of embezzlement and deemed her ineligible to stand in elections for the next five years.
In Moscow, where the Kremlin is accused of crushing Russia’s democratic opposition, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed that the verdict was a “violation of democratic norms.”
Le Pen and her co-defendants were accused of illicitly siphoning European Parliament funds to pay for party employees who seldom (or never) dealt with affairs in Brussels or Strasbourg. The court estimated that the accused had embezzled more than €4 million, €474,000 of which Le Pen was held personally responsible for as an MEP.
“In general, our observations of European capitals indicate that they are absolutely not averse to going beyond the bounds of democracy during the political process,” Peskov needled.
Le Pen has ties to Russia through a controversial bank loan, which the National Rally took out in 2014 and only announced it had paid back in 2023. The loan’s specter hung over the party for years, with Le Pen being forced to rebut accusations that she was close to Moscow.
The French court also fined Le Pen €100,000 and sentenced her to four years in prison, two of which were suspended, in the EU funds case. The judges did not rule that those penalties should take immediate effect, so they could be delayed by a possible appeal.
‘Je suis Marine’
In Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands, some of Europe’s most prominent right-wingers reacted to the ruling with anger.
“Je suis Marine!” said Orbán, whose Fidesz party sits with Le Pen’s National Rally in the Patriots group at European Parliament level in Brussels, after she was found guilty but before the final verdict was handed down.
“In Paris they condemned Marine Le Pen and would like to exclude her from political life. A bad film that we are also seeing in other countries such as Romania,” said Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, alluding to Romanian authorities’ decision to annul last year’s presidential election first round and bar pro-Russian ultranationalist Călin Georgescu from the do-over in May.
“We will not be intimidated, we will not stop: full speed ahead my friend,” Salvini added.
“I am shocked by the incredible tough verdict against Marine Le Pen,” fumed Dutch far-right chief Wilders, whose party won a national election in November 2023, helping tilt the Netherlands to the right. “I support and believe in her for the full 100% and I trust she will win the appeal and become President of France.”
In Spain, far-right Vox party chief Santiago Abascal said: “They will not succeed in silencing the voice of the French people.”
The post Marine Le Pen’s allies in Russia and Hungary lash out at guilty verdict appeared first on Politico.
