National Front Patriarch Loses Grip

France, 20 Apr – 18 May 2015

Jean-Marie Le Pen loses power struggle against his daughter ++ A history of female suffrage ++ François Hollande visits Cuba.
by Matthieu Choblet

Jean-Marie Le Pen loses power struggle against his daughter

The executive bureau of the far-right party National Front (FN) suspended its honorary member Jean-Marie Le Pen. The decision was initiated by Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen and current president of the FN, following a provocative interview given by her father. Le Pen, co-founder of the FN in 1972 and its uncontested leader until 2011 has repeatedly caught attention for the belittlement of the Holocaust. So far Marine Le Pen had narrowed her father’s racist and anti-Semitic remarks as mere “political errors”. However, the renewed claim that Holocaust was “a detail of history” was the last straw.

„Report May 2015 (FN, suffrage, Cuba)“ weiterlesen

Local Elections – Will the Far-Right Gain More Influence?

France, 23 Feb – 22 Mar 2015

Departmental elections put political system under stress ++ France granted two more years to comply with European budget rule ++ Tragic helicopter crash leaves ten dead ++ Alleged death of Bouygues’ CEO Martin Bouygues.
by Matthieu Choblet

Departmental elections put political system under stress

Time for elections again in France: The first round of the French departmental elections took place on Sunday 22nd March. Not for the first time in this legislative period, elections, usually considered second-rank, put France’s political system under stress and make the governmental majority shiver.
The reason for this isn’t new either. In the run-up to the elections, the far-right party National Front (FN) was set to win more votes than any other party in the first round of the elections according to polls.

So is FN-leader Marine Le Pen right to claim that her party is “more than ever, the balance point of political life in France”? At least, she has every reason to believe that many voters will choose to penalise the governing Socialist party (PS). Sure enough, the general councils governing the 101 French departments are not the place to decide on popular FN-issues such as leaving the euro zone or the Schengen agreement. The council’s main responsibility lays in the management of welfare allowances and basic education. Anyway, the elections offered the opportunity to grouch on the reform of the departments (see French Report November 2014/2), to make welfare promises and … to reject “Islamic proselytism” in kindergarten.

„Report March 2015 (Départementales, European budget rule)“ weiterlesen