Jump to content

Jean-Marie Le Pen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Jean-Marie Le-Pen)

Jean-Marie Le Pen
Le Pen in 2010
Honorary Chairman of the Alliance for Peace and Freedom
Incumbent
Assumed office
2018
LeaderRoberto Fiore
Leader of the Jeanne Committees
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 March 2016
Preceded byParty established
Honorary President of the National Front
In office
16 January 2011 – 20 August 2015
PresidentMarine Le Pen
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
President of the National Front
In office
5 October 1972 – 15 January 2011
Preceded byParty established
Succeeded byMarine Le Pen
Member of the European Parliament
In office
1 July 2004 – 1 July 2019
ConstituencySouth-East France
In office
24 July 1984 – 10 April 2003
ConstituencyFrance
Member of the National Assembly
In office
2 April 1986 – 14 May 1988
ConstituencySeine
In office
9 December 1958 – 9 October 1962
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byRené Capitant
ConstituencySeine's 1st
In office
19 January 1956 – 5 December 1958
ConstituencySeine's 3rd
Regional Councillor
In office
26 March 2010 – 13 December 2015
ConstituencyProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
In office
27 March 1992 – 24 February 2000
ConstituencyProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
In office
21 March 1986 – 22 March 1992
ConstituencyÎle-de-France
Municipal Councillor of Paris
In office
13 March 1983 – 19 March 1989
Constituency20th arrondissement
Personal details
Born (1928-06-20) 20 June 1928 (age 96)
La Trinité-sur-Mer, Brittany, France
Political partyCJ (2016–present)
Other political
affiliations
  • UDCA (1956–1957)
  • FNC (1957–1961)
  • CTV (1964–1966)
  • FN (1972–2015)
  • APF (2018-present)
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1960; div. 1987)​
Jeanne-Marie Paschos
​
​
(m. 1991)​
ChildrenMarie-Caroline Le Pen
Yann Le Pen
Marine Le Pen
RelativesMarion Maréchal (granddaughter)
Alma materPanthéon-Assas University
Profession
  • Lawyer
  • politician
  • activist
Signature
Websitejeanmarielepen.com
Military service
AllegianceFrench Fourth Republic
Branch/serviceFrench Army
Years of service
  • 1953–1955
  • 1956–1957
Rank1st Lieutenant
Unit
Battles/wars
Awards

Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (born 20 June 1928), known as Jean-Marie Le Pen (French: [ʒɑ̃maʁi lə pɛn]), is a French far-right politician who served as president of the National Front from 1972 to 2011 and Honorary President of the same party from 2011 to 2015.

Le Pen focuses on issues related to immigration to France, the European Union, traditional culture and values, law and order, and France's high rate of unemployment. His progression in the 1980s is known as the "lepénisation of minds" due to its noticeable effect on mainstream political opinion. His controversial speeches and his integration into public life have made him a figure who polarizes opinion, considered the "Devil of the Republic" among his opponents or the "last samurai in politics" among his supporters. He has been convicted for statements downplaying the Holocaust, and fined for incitement to discrimination regarding remarks made about Muslims in France.

Le Pen's longevity in politics and his five attempts to become President of France have made him a major figure in French political life. His unexpected progress to the second round in the 2002 presidential election—where he would lose in a landslide to incumbent Jacques Chirac—left its mark on French public life, and the "21st of April" is now a frequently used expression in France. A former Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Le Pen served as the Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. He was expelled from the party by his daughter Marine in 2015, after new controversial statements.[1][2][3]

Life and career

[edit]

Early life

[edit]

Jean Louis Marie Le Pen was the only son of Jean Le Pen (1901–1942). Jean Le Pen was born in Brittany, like his ancestors, and had started work at the age of 13 on a transatlantic vessel. He was the president of L'Association des Ancients Combattants and Councilor of La Trinité-sur-Mer.[4] Jean-Marie Le Pen's mother, Anne-Marie Hervé (1904–1965), was a seamstress and also of local ancestry.[5][6]

Le Pen was born on 20 June 1928 in La Trinité-sur-Mer, a small seaside village in Brittany, the son of Anne Marie Hervé and Jean Le Pen,[7] a fisherman. He was orphaned as an adolescent (Ward of the Nation, brought up by the state), when his father's boat La Persévérance was blown up by a mine in 1942.[8][6][9] He was raised as a Roman Catholic and studied at the Jesuit high school François Xavier in Vannes,[10] then at the lycée of Lorient.[11]

In November 1944, aged 16, he was turned down (because of his age) by Colonel Henri de La Vaissière (then representative of the Communist Youth) when he attempted to join the French Forces of the Interior (FFI).[12] He then entered the faculty of law in Paris, and started to sell the monarchist Action Française's newspaper, Aspects de la France, in the street.[13] He was repeatedly convicted of assault and battery (coups et blessures).[14]

Le Pen started his political career as the head of the student union in Toulouse. He became president of the Association Corporative des étudiants en droit, an association of law students whose main occupation was to engage in street brawls against the "Cocos" (communists). He was excluded from this organisation in 1951.[15]

After his time in the military, he studied political science and law at Panthéon-Assas University. His graduate thesis, submitted in 1971 by him and Jean-Loup Vincent, was titled Le courant anarchiste en France depuis 1945 or ("The anarchist movement in France since 1945").[16][17]

Military service

[edit]

After receiving his law degree, he enlisted in the Foreign Legion. He arrived in Indochina after the 1954 battle of Dien Bien Phu,[14] which had been lost by France and which prompted French Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France to put an end to the Indochina war at the Geneva Conference. Le Pen was then sent to Suez in 1956, but arrived only after the cease-fire.[14]

In 1953, a year before the beginning of the Algerian War, he contacted President Vincent Auriol, who approved Le Pen's proposed volunteer disaster relief project after a flood in the Netherlands. Within two days, there were 40 volunteers from his university, a group that would later help victims of an earthquake in Italy. In Paris in 1956, he was elected to the National Assembly as a member of Pierre Poujade's UDCA populist party. Le Pen has often presented himself as the youngest member of the Assembly,[18] but a young communist, André Chène, 27 years old and half a year younger, was elected in the same year.[19] [20][21]

In 1957, Le Pen became the General Secretary of the National Front of Combatants, a veterans' organization, as well as the first French politician to nominate a Muslim candidate, Ahmed Djebbour, an Algerian, elected in 1957 as deputy of Paris. The next year, following his break with Poujade, he was reelected to the National Assembly as a member of the Centre National des Indépendants et Paysans (CNIP) party, led by Antoine Pinay.

Le Pen claimed that he had lost his left eye when he was savagely beaten during the 1958 election campaign.[22] Testimonies suggest that he was only wounded in the right eye and did not lose it. He lost the sight in his left eye years later, due to an illness.[23] (Popular belief is that he wears a glass eye.[24]) During the 1950s, Le Pen took a close interest in the Algerian War (1954–62) and the French defence budget.

Elected deputy of the French Parliament under the Poujadist banner, Le Pen voluntarily reengaged himself for two to three months in the French Foreign Legion.[25] He was then sent to Algeria (1957) as an intelligence officer. He has been accused of having engaged in torture. Le Pen has denied these accusations, although he admitted knowing of its use.[14]

Far-right politics

[edit]
This article is part of a series on
Conservatism in France
Ideologies
Principles
History
Intellectuals
Literature
Politicians
Commentators
Parties
Active

Defunct

Organisations
Active

Defunct

Media
Related topics

Le Pen directed the 1965 presidential campaign of far-right candidate Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour, who obtained 5.19% of the votes. He insisted on the rehabilitation of the Collaborationists, declaring that:

Was General de Gaulle more brave than Marshal Pétain in the occupied zone? This isn't sure. It was much easier to resist in London than to resist in France.[14]

In 1962, Le Pen lost his seat in the Assembly. In 1963, he created the Serp (Société d'études et de relations publiques [fr]) firm, a company involved in the music industry, which specialized in historical recordings and sold recordings of the choir of the CGT trade-union and songs of the Popular Front, as well as Nazi marches.[26]

National Front

[edit]

In 1972, Le Pen founded the Front National (FN) party. He then ran in the 1974 presidential election, obtaining 0.74% of the vote.[14] In 1976, his Parisian flat was dynamited (he lived at that time in his mansion of Montretout in Saint-Cloud). The crime was never solved.[14] Le Pen then failed to obtain the 500 signatures from "grand electors" (grands électeurs, mayors, etc.) necessary to present himself in the 1981 presidential election, won by the candidate of the Socialist Party (PS), François Mitterrand.[27]

Criticizing immigration and taking advantage of the economic crisis striking France and the world since the 1973 oil crisis, Le Pen's party managed to increase its support in the 1980s, starting in the municipal elections of 1983. His popularity has been greatest in the south and east of France. The FN obtained 16 seats in the 1984 European elections.[28] A total of 35 FN deputies entered the Assembly after the 1986 elections (the only legislative elections held under proportional representation), which were won by the right wing, bringing Jacques Chirac to Matignon in the first cohabitation government (that is, the combination of a right-wing Prime minister, Chirac, with a socialist President, Mitterrand). In Paris, Jean-Marie Le Pen was elected to the National Assembly.

In 1984, Le Pen won a seat in the European Parliament and has been consistently reelected since then. In 1988 he lost his reelection bid for the French National Assembly in the Bouches-du-Rhône's 8th constituency. He was defeated in the second round by Socialist Marius Masse.[29] In 1991 Le Pen's invitation to London by Conservative MPs was militantly protested by large numbers coordinated by the Campaign Against Fascism in Europe, CAFE, which led to a surge of anti-fascist groups and activity across Europe. In 1992 and 1998 he was elected to the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, November 2005

Le Pen ran in the French presidential elections in 1974, 1988, 1995, 2002, and 2007. As noted above, he was not able to run for office in 1981, having failed to gather the necessary 500 signatures of elected officials. In the presidential elections of 2002, Le Pen obtained 16.86% of the votes in the first round of voting.[30] This was enough to qualify him for the second round, as a result of the poor showing by the PS candidate and incumbent prime minister Lionel Jospin and the scattering of votes among 15 other candidates. This was a major political event, both nationally and internationally, as it was the first time someone with such far-right views had qualified for the second round of the French presidential elections. There was a widespread stirring of national public opinion as virtually the entire French political spectrum from the centre-right to the left united in fierce opposition to Le Pen's ideas. More than one million people in France took part in street rallies; slogans such as "A crook is better than a fascist" ("Un escroc mieux qu'un facho") and "Graft rather than hate, Chirac rather than Le Pen" ("L'arnaque plutôt que la haine, Chirac plutôt que Le Pen") were heard in opposition to Le Pen.[31] Le Pen was then defeated by a large margin in the second round, when incumbent president Jacques Chirac obtained 82% of the votes, thus securing the biggest majority in the history of the Fifth Republic.[32]

In the 2004 regional elections, Le Pen intended to run for office in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region but was prevented from doing so because he did not meet the conditions for being a voter in that region: he neither lived there nor was registered as a taxpayer there. However, he was planned to be the FN's top candidate in the region for the 2010 regional elections.[33]

Le Pen again ran in the 2007 French presidential election and finished fourth.[34] His 2007 campaign, at the age of 78 years and 9 months, makes him the oldest candidate for presidential office in French history.

Le Pen has been a vocal critic of the European Reform Treaty (formally known as the Treaty of Lisbon) which was signed by EU member states on 13 December 2007, and entered into force on 1 December 2009. In October 2007, Le Pen suggested that he would personally visit Ireland to assist the "No" campaign but finally changed his mind, fearing that his presence would be used against the supporters of the NO vote. Ireland finally refused to ratify the treaty. Ireland is the only EU country which had a citizen referendum. All other EU states, including France, ratified the treaty by parliamentary vote, despite a previous citizen referendum where over 55% of French voters rejected the European Reform Treaty (although that vote was on a different draft of the Treaty in the form of the Constitutional Treaty). After the Irish "No" vote, Le Pen addressed the French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the European Parliament, accusing him of furthering the agenda of a "cabal of international finance and free market fanatics." Ireland has since accepted the treaty in a second Lisbon referendum.[35]

After Le Pen left office in January 2011, his daughter Marine Le Pen was elected by the adherents of the party against Bruno Gollnisch. He became honorary chairman of the party[36] and won his seat again at the European elections in 2014.

On 4 May 2015, Le Pen was suspended from the party after refusing to attend his disciplinary hearing for repeating his description of the Nazi gas chambers used in concentration camps during the Holocaust, as a "detail" of World War II and speaking favorably of Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Pétain.[37] He had originally been fined 183,200 euros for saying in 1987 that "I'm not saying the gas chambers didn't exist. I haven't seen them myself. I haven't particularly studied the question. But I believe it's just a detail in the history of World War II."[38] In 1996, he stated that "If you take a 1,000-page book on World War II, the concentration camps take up only two pages and the gas chambers 10 to 15 lines. This is what one calls a detail," and he made similar statements before the European Parliament in 2008 and 2009.[38]

Le Pen dismissed the hearing as a 'mockery' and an 'ambush' and blamed Ms. Le Pen of pulling the strings from afar. 'It's dirty to kill your own daddy, so she didn't kill daddy directly, she did it through her henchman,' Mr. Le Pen told French radio at the time. The elder Le Pen has been a persistent problem for his daughter as she tries to smooth over the overt racism and xenophobia of the party's past. The final straw came in April when he rehashed familiar comments about the gas chambers and said France should get along with Russia to save the 'white world'. Ms. Le Pen then openly split with her father, saying he was committing 'political suicide'. But he vowed to 'reconquer' the party he founded in 1972.[39][40]

A French court decided in June of 2015 to cancel his suspension; although the members of the party were to hold a vote to accept or reject a whole series of measures aiming at changing the National Front's status, including Le Pen's Honorary Presidency. On 10 July another French court ruled to suspend the vote two days beforehand and urged the party to organize an in-person Congress, as Le Pen sued the National Front again. The party decided to appeal against both of these decisions.[41] The FN then decided, on 29 July, to count the votes on the suppression of Le Pen's Honorary Presidency, which showed that 94% of the members were in favor of this decision.[42][43] However, due to the legal challenges to the FN's removal of Le Pen as its honorary president, he continued to officially hold the position.[44]

In August 2015, Le Pen was expelled from the National Front after a special party congress.[45] He has since founded the Comités Jeanne.[46][47]

Blue, White and Red Rally

[edit]
Blue, White and Red Rally
Rassemblement Bleu Blanc Rouge
LeaderJean-Marie Le Pen
Founded5 September 2015
Split fromNational Front (France)
IdeologyFrench nationalism
Political positionFar-right
Colours  Blue

Blue, White and Red Rally (French: Rassemblement Bleu Blanc Rouge) is a French nationalist political association[48] in France founded by Le Pen on 5 September 2015 after his August expulsion from the FN. He told supporters in the city: 'You will not be orphans. We can act in a similar way to the FN, even if we are not part of it.'[49]

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Front National remarked 'He does what he wants, he is a free man.'

He confirmed he would support his granddaughter Marion Maréchal-Le Pen for the next regional elections and that he wanted to influence the National Front's ideology with his association. He also praised Marine Le Pen's speech in Marseille on 6 September 2015, describing it as "lepéniste".[50]

Personal life, wealth, and security

[edit]
"Jany" Paschos, his second wife, with Le Pen at his National Front party's annual march to the statue of Joan of Arc, Place des Pyramides, Paris, May Day 2007[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58]

Le Pen's marriage to Pierrette Le Pen from 29 June 1960 to 18 March 1987 resulted in three daughters, who have given him eight grandchildren. The break-up of the marriage was somewhat dramatic, with his ex-wife posing nude, to ridicule him, in the French edition of Playboy which printed 100,000 more than the normal production of 150,000 nevertheless needed to print a second printing of 150,000, to satisfy demand.[59][60][14] Marie-Caroline, one of his daughters, broke with Le Pen, following her husband to join Bruno Mégret, who split from the FN to found the rival Mouvement National Républicain (MNR, National Republican Movement).[14] The youngest of Le Pen's daughters, Marine Le Pen, is leader of the National Rally. On 31 May 1991, Jean-Marie Le Pen married Jeanne-Marie Paschos ("Jany"), of Greek descent, in a civil cerimony. Born in 1933, Paschos was previously married to Belgian businessman Jean Garnier.[61] The two married again in a religious marriage in 2021, in a ceremony presided by traditionalist Catholic priest Philippe Laguérie.[62]

In 1977, Le Pen inherited a fortune from Hubert Lambert (1934–1976), son of the cement industrialist Leon Lambert (1877–1952), one of three sons of Lambert Cement founder Hilaire Lambert. Hubert Lambert was a political supporter of Le Pen and a monarchist as well.[14] Lambert's will provided 30 million francs (equivalent to €19,000,000 in 2022) to Le Pen, as well as his opulent three-storey 11-room mansion at 8 Parc de Montretout, Saint-Cloud, in the western suburbs of Paris. The home had been built by Napoleon III for his chief of staff Jean-François Mocquard.[14][63] With his wife, he also owns a two-story townhouse on the Rue Hortense in Rueil-Malmaison and another house in his hometown of La Trinité-sur-Mer.[63]

In the early 1980s, Le Pen's personal security was assured by KO International Company, a subsidiary of VHP Security, a private security firm, and an alleged front organisation for SAC, the Service d'Action Civique (Civic Action Service), a Gaullist organisation. SAC allegedly employed figures with organized crime backgrounds and from the far-right movement.[64][65]

Le Pen was briefly hospitalized after a minor stroke on 2 February 2022.[66]

Le Pen was hospitalized on 15 April 2023, after suffering a “mild heart attack” and was discharged from the hospital on 3 May.[67][68]

In April 2024, Jean Marie Le Pen was placed “under legal protection” at the request of his family.[69]

In November 2024, Jean-Marie Le Pen was hospitalized for two weeks for medical examinations related to old age, and his family expressed concerns about his general state of health.[70]

Electoral record

[edit]

National Assembly of France

  • Member of the National Assembly of France for Paris: 1956–1962 / 1986–1988. Elected in 1956, reelected in 1958, 1986.
  • President of the National Front political grouping: 1986–1988.

Municipal Council

European Parliament

  • Member of European Parliament: 1984–2003 (Sentenced by the courts in 2003) / Since 2004. Elected in 1984, reelected in 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014.

Regional Council

Issues and policy positions

[edit]
See also: National Rally

Death penalty

[edit]

Le Pen supports bringing back the death penalty in France.[71][72]

Controversial statements

[edit]

Le Pen has been accused and convicted several times[73] at home and abroad of xenophobia and antisemitism. A Paris court found in February 2005 that his verbal criticisms, such as remarks disparaging Muslims in a 2003 Le Monde interview, were "inciting racial hatred",[73] and he was fined €10,000 and ordered to pay an additional €5,000 in damages to the Ligue des droits de l'homme (League for Human Rights). The conviction and fines were upheld by the Court of Cassation in 2006.[74]

  • In May 1987, he advocated the forced isolation from society of all people infected with HIV, by placing them in a special "sidatorium". "Sidaïque"[75] is Le Pen's pejorative solecism for "person infected with AIDS" (the more usual French term is "séropositif" (seropositive))[76] The term "sidatorium" was coined by François Bachelot.[77]
  • On 21 June 1995, he attacked singer Patrick Bruel, who is of Algerian Jewish descent, on his policy of no longer singing in the city of Toulon because the city had just elected a mayor from the National Front. Le Pen said, "the city of Toulon will then have to get along without the vocalisations of singer Benguigui". Benguigui, an Algerian name, is Bruel's birth name.
  • In February 1997, Le Pen accused Chirac of being "on the payroll of Jewish organizations, and particularly of the B'nai B'rith"[78][79]
  • Le Pen once made the infamous pun "Durafour-crématoire" ("four crématoire" meaning "crematory oven") about then-minister Michel Durafour, who had said in public a few days before, "One must exterminate the National Front".[80]
  • On many occasions, before and after the FIFA World Cup, he claimed that the French World Cup squad contained too many non-white players, and was not an accurate reflection of French society. He went on to scold players for not singing La Marseillaise, saying they were not "French".[81][82]
  • In the 2007 election campaign, he referred to fellow-candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, who is of partial Greek Jewish and Hungarian descent, as "foreign" or "the foreigner."[83]
  • In a 2014 video on the National Front's website, Le Pen reacted to criticism of him by Jewish singer Patrick Bruel with "next time we'll do a whole oven batch!" Le Pen later claimed the comments he made had no anti-Semitic connotations "except for my political enemies or imbeciles".[84][85]

Arguing that his party includes people of various ethnic or religious origins like Jean-Pierre Cohen, Farid Smahi or Huguette Fatna, he has attributed some anti-Semitism in France to the effects of Muslim immigration to Europe and suggested that some part of the Jewish community in France might eventually come to appreciate National Front ideology.[citation needed] Le Pen has denied man-made climate change and has linked climate science with communism.[86]

He also infamously compared gay people to soup with salt, saying "it's like salt with soup: if there is not enough, it's too bland, and if it's too much, it's undrinkable" and compared pedophilia with "the exaltation of homosexuality".[87][88]

Prosecution concerning Holocaust denial

[edit]

Le Pen has made several provocative statements concerning the Holocaust which have been legally ruled to be Holocaust denial. He has been convicted of racism or inciting racial hatred at least six times.[73] Thus, on 13 September 1987, he said, "I ask myself several questions. I'm not saying the gas chambers didn't exist. I haven't seen them myself. I haven't particularly studied the question. But I believe it's just a detail in the history of World War II." For Le Pen, the French deportation of 76,000 Jews from France to Nazi concentration camps, where they were killed, is a trivial matter, and he denies that 6 million Jews were killed, saying "I don't think there were that many deaths. There weren't 6 million ... There weren't mass murders as it's been said."[89] He was eventually condemned under the Gayssot Act to pay 1.2 million francs (€183,200).[90]

In 1997, the European Parliament, of which Le Pen was then a member, removed his parliamentary immunity so that Le Pen could be tried by a German court in Germany, for comments he made at a December 1996 press conference before the German Republikaner party. Echoing his 1987 remarks in France, Le Pen stated: "If you take a 1,000-page book on World War II, the concentration camps take up only two pages and the gas chambers 10 to 15 lines. This is what one calls a detail." In June 1999, a Munich court found this statement to be "minimizing the Holocaust, which caused the deaths of six million Jews," and convicted and fined Le Pen for his remarks.[91] Le Pen retorted sarcastically: "I understand now that it's the Second World War which is a detail of the history of the gas chambers."[92]

[edit]
  • Prosecution for assault: In April 2000, Le Pen was suspended from the European Parliament following prosecution for the physical assault of Socialist candidate Annette Peulvast-Bergeal during the 1997 general election. This ultimately led to him losing his seat in the European parliament in 2003. The Versailles appeals court banned him from seeking office for one year.[93]
  • Statements about Muslims in France: In 2005 and 2008, Le Pen was fined, in both cases €10,000 for "incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence towards a group of people", on account of statements made about Muslims in France. In 2010. The European Court of Human Rights declared Le Pen's application inadmissible.[94]
  • Allegations of war crimes in Algeria: Le Pen allegedly practiced torture during the Algerian War (1954–1962), when he was a lieutenant in the French Army. He denied it and won some trials.[95] But he lost a trial when he attacked Le Monde newspaper on charges of defamation, following accusations by the newspaper that he had used torture. Le Monde has produced in May 2003 the dagger he allegedly used to commit war crimes as court evidence.[96] Although war crimes committed during the Algerian War are amnestied in France, this was publicised by the newspapers Le Canard Enchaîné, Libération, and Le Monde, and by Michel Rocard (ex-Prime Minister) on TV (TF1 1993). Le Pen sued the papers and Michel Rocard. This affair ended in 2000 when the Cour de cassation (French supreme jurisdiction) concluded that it was legitimate to publish these assertions. In 1995, Le Pen unsuccessfully sued Jean Dufour, regional counselor of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (French Communist Party) for the same reason.[97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104]
  • Allegations of misusing EU funds: In December 2023, Le Pen was among 28 people, which included his daughter Marine, charged with misusing EU funds meant for European Parliament assistants by instead using them to pay National Rally officials.[105]

Public image

[edit]

Public perception

[edit]

Le Pen is often nicknamed the "Menhir", due to his "granitic nature" as he is perceived as someone who does not give way to pressure or who cannot be easily knocked down. It also connects him to France's Celtic origins.[106] Le Pen is often described as one of the most flamboyant and charismatic orators in Europe, whose speech blends folksy humour, crude attacks and rhetorical finesse.[106][107][108][109]

Le Pen is a polarizing figure in France: opinions regarding him tend to be quite strong. A 2002 Ipsos poll showed that while 22% of the electorate have a good or very good opinion of Le Pen, and 13% an unfavorable opinion, 61% have a very unfavorable opinion.[110]

Le Pen and the National Front are described by much of the media and nearly all commentators as far right. Le Pen himself and the rest of his party disagree with this label; earlier in his political career, Le Pen described his position as "neither right, nor left, but French" (ni droite, ni gauche, français).[111] He later described his position as right-wing and opposed to the "socialo-communists" and other right-wing parties, which he deems are not real right-wing parties. At other times, for example during the 2002 election campaign, he declared himself "socially left-wing, economically right-wing, nationally French" (socialement à gauche, économiquement à droite, nationalement français).[112] He further contends that most of the French political and media class are corrupt and out of touch with the real needs of the common people, and conspire to exclude Le Pen and his party from mainstream politics. Le Pen criticizes the other political parties as the "establishment" and lumped all major parties (Communist, Socialist, Union for French Democracy (UDF) and Rally for the Republic (RPR)) into the "Gang of Four" (la bande des quatre – an allusion to the Gang of Four during China's Cultural Revolution).[113]

Relations with other groups

[edit]

Some of Le Pen's statements led other far-right groups, such as the Austrian Freedom Party,[114] and some National Front supporters, to distance themselves from him. Controversial Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has often been accused of being far-right, has also criticized Le Pen.[115] Bruno Mégret left the National Front to found his own party (the National Republican Movement, MNR), claiming that Le Pen kept the Front away from the possibility of gaining power. Mégret wanted to emulate Gianfranco Fini's success in Italy by making it possible for right-wing parties to ally themselves with the Front, but claimed that Le Pen's attitude and outrageous speech prevented this. Le Pen's daughter Marine leads an internal movement of the Front that wants to "normalize" the National Front, "de-enclave" it, have a "culture of government" etc.; however, relations with Le Pen and other supporters of the hard line are complex.[116] Le Pen's National Front electoral successes along with the party gaining wider public prominence led to suggestions for the renewal of the pan-European alliance of extreme-right parties with Le Pen as its figurehead,[117] a suggestion that eventually did indeed bring about the establishment of the Europe of Nations and Freedom group in the European Parliament, chaired by Le Pen's daughter Marine.

On 22 March 2018, Le Pen joined the Alliance for Peace and Freedom.[118] In October 2021, he endorsed Éric Zemmour for the 2022 French presidential election over his daughter Marine.[119]

Decorations

[edit]

Electoral history

[edit]

Presidential

[edit]
President of the French Republic
Election First round Second round
Votes % Position Result Votes % Position Result
1974 190,921 0.7 (#7) Lost
1988 4,375,894 14.4 (#4) Lost
1995 4,570,838 15.0 (#4) Lost
2002 4,804,713 16.9 (#2) Run-off 5,525,032 17.8 (#2) Lost
2007 3,834,530 10.4 (#4) Lost

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "French National Front expels founder Jean-Marie Le Pen". BBC News. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  2. ^ "France's National Front party expels founder Jean-Marie Le Pen". The Guardian. 20 August 2015. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Jean-Marie Le Pen to protest exclusion from National Front party". POLITICO. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  4. ^ Le Pen, Jean-Marie. p45
  5. ^ Le Pen, Jean-Marie. p16
  6. ^ a b "Jean-Marie Le Pen: genealogie". geneanet.org. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  7. ^ "Biographie Jean-Marie Le Pen". Linternaute.com. 20 June 1928. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  8. ^ Le Pen, Jean-Marie, p82
  9. ^ Fauchoux, Marc and Forcari, Christophe. p42
  10. ^ Le Pen, Jean-Marie, p72
  11. ^ Le Pen, Jean-Marie, p94
  12. ^ Quand Le Pen voulait rejoindre les FFI Archived 1 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, L'Express, 28 March 2007 (in French)
  13. ^ "Assemblée nationale – Les députés de la IVe République : Jean-Marie Le Pen". Assemblee-nationale.fr. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Le Pen, son univers impitoyable Archived 24 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Radio France Internationale, 1 September 2006 (in French)
  15. ^ "Biographie et actualités de Jean Marie Le Pen France Inter". www.franceinter.fr (in French). Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  16. ^ Schwartzenberg, Roger-Gérard (1998). La politique mensonge (in French). Odile Jacob. p. 235. ISBN 9782738105431.
  17. ^ Pen, Jean-Marie Le (1971). Le Courant anarchiste en France depuis 1945 (in French). Universite de Paris.
  18. ^ Jean-Marie Le Pen. "Biographie". LE BLOG DE Jean-Marie Le Pen (in French). Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  19. ^ Sirinelli, Jean-Francois (1995). Vie politique française au xxe siècle (in French) (first ed.). Paris, France: Presses universitaires de France. p. 573.
  20. ^ "André Chène". ASSEMBLÉE NATIONALE (in French). Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  21. ^ Kauffmann, Grégoire (December 2011). "La naissance du Front national : La réponse de l'auteur". L'Histoire (in French) (370): 6. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  22. ^ Paris, Giles Tremlett Paul Webster in (4 June 2002). "Battle of Algiers returns to haunt Le Pen as claims of torture focus on far-right leader". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  23. ^ Broughton, Philip Delves (22 April 2002). "Exposing the myth of poison Le Pen". Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  24. ^ Tribune, Ray Moseley, Chicago (15 July 1985). "EX-PARATROOPER AROUSES POLITICAL PASSIONS". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 27 December 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ CatusJack. "Jean-Marie Le Pen et La Torture [1/3] Excellent ! – une vidéo". Dailymotion. Retrieved 13 June 2010.[permanent dead link‍]
  26. ^ Thomas, Jonathan (13 December 2017). "Jean-Marie Le Pen et la SERP : le disque de musique au service d'une pratique politique". Volume! La revue des musiques populaires (in French). 14 : 1 (14 : 1): 85–101. doi:10.4000/volume.5370. ISSN 1634-5495.
  27. ^ Mas, Marie-Laure (2 February 2012). "1981-2007. Le FN face à la "galère" des 500 signatures". Le Nouvel Obs (in French). Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  28. ^ de Boissieu, Laurent. "Élections européennes 1984". europe-politique.eu. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  29. ^ Marius Masse biography
  30. ^ "Décision n° 2002-109 PDR du 24 avril 2002". Constitutional Council of France (in French). 24 April 2002. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  31. ^ "Contre Le Pen, le sursaut civique". L'Humanité (in French). 23 April 2002. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  32. ^ "Décision n° 2002-111 PDR du 8 mai 2002". Constitutional Council of France (in French). 8 May 2002. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  33. ^ "FN list of candidates". Frontnational.com. 25 August 2008. Archived from the original on 2 October 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  34. ^ "Décision n° 2007-139 PDR du 25 avril 2007". Constitutional Council of France (in French). 25 April 2007. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  35. ^ "Ireland backs EU's Lisbon Treaty". London: BBC. 3 October 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
  36. ^ LE CORRE, PHILIPPE (April 2017). "FRANCE: A CRITICAL PLAYER IN A WEAKENED EUROPE" (PDF). brookings.edu.
  37. ^ Rubin, Alissa J.; Breeden, Aurelien (4 May 2015). "Far-Right Party in France Tries to Push Jean-Marie Le Pen, Provocative Founder, to the Margins". The New York Times.
  38. ^ a b "Jean-Marie Le Pen to Face Trial for Saying Gas Chambers Are 'A Detail' of History". Haaretz. 25 July 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  39. ^ "National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen creates new party". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  40. ^ "FN founder Le Pen to create new far-right faction - France 24". 6 September 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  41. ^ "Jean-Marie Le Pen fait suspendre l'assemblée générale du FN". Le Monde. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  42. ^ Un mot à ajouter ? (29 July 2015). "Vote massif des adhérents FN contre Jean-Marie Le Pen, qui renonce à se présenter en Paca". Libération. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  43. ^ "29 juillet 2015 à 19:40". Libération. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  44. ^ "Juridiquement, Jean-Marie Le Pen est toujours président d'honneur du FN". L'Express (in French). 27 January 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  45. ^ "French National Front expels founder Jean-Marie Le Pen". BBC News. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  46. ^ "Jean-Marie Le Pen lance des comités "Jeanne d'Arc, au secours !"". europe1.fr. 20 March 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  47. ^ "Jean-Marie Le Pen crée les comités "Jeanne, au secours!" pour peser sur le FN". 21 March 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  48. ^ "Le " Rassemblement bleu blanc rouge ", la surprise de M. Le Pen". Le Monde.fr. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  49. ^ "French Front National founder creates new party after expulsion". Reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  50. ^ magazine, Le Point (7 September 2015). "Migrants - Jean-Marie Le Pen salue le discours "100 % lepéniste" de sa fille". Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  51. ^ "National Front in patriotic fervour". BBC News. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2022. Every year on May Day the far right in France marches to the statue of Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) on the right bank in Paris
  52. ^ "National Front Le Pen Jeanne D'arc". Getty Images. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  53. ^ Ganley, Elaine. "Chaotic scenes as France's National Front family feud erupts on May Day". timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  54. ^ Marlowe, Lara (2 May 1997). "Joan of Arc hijacked as Le Pen backs in adulation of thousands". The Irish Times. Retrieved 5 January 2022. The Maid of Orleans must turn in her grave every May 1st, for since 1988 the extreme right-wing National Front (FN) has expropriated her along with other symbols of Frenchness like the tricolour and the Marseillaise for its own noisy propaganda. Up to 20,000 frontistes came out yesterday to celebrate Saint Joan and the day of workers, pausing to lay flowers in front of her equestrian statue in the Place des Pyramides, listening with rapt attention to National Front leader, Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen, as he held forth from the steps of the Paris Opera.
  55. ^ "Jean Marie Le Pen Paris May 1988 Joan Of Arc". Getty Images. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  56. ^ Howell, Maggie (Winter 2013). ""La Peur Gagne": The National Front Platform of the 1980s and the Rising Tide of French Nationalism" (PDF). Michigan Journal of History. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  57. ^ Simmons, Harvey G. (1996). The French National Front : the extremist challenge to democracy. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press. p. 238. ISBN 0813328918.
  58. ^ El Hissy, Maha (September 2018). "Affective Communities". Collision 16. collateral-journal.com. Retrieved 5 January 2022. The Medieval icon is obviously being instrumentalized: by enacting this rite, the FN incites nationalist sentiment directed against all those who – according to the far-right party – betray the notion of French national identity and adhere to a global European project, as well as those who keep the borders open for immigrants and refugees, thus betraying the values that Joan of Arc supposedly fought and died for.
  59. ^ Schwyter, Adrien (3 May 2017). ""Dans l'enfer de Montretout": 6 anecdotes incroyables sur l'histoire du clan Le Pen". Challenges (in French). Retrieved 5 January 2022. Deux semaines plus tard, en juin, le numéro 23 de Playboy est dans les kiosques: Madame Le Pen nue fait le ménage" titre l'hebdomadaire, qui, à une époque où le mot buzz médiatique, n'existe pas encore, a flairé le bon coup et imprimé 250.000 exemplaires, soit 100.000 de plus que la moyenne habituelle....Playboy est même obligé de réimprimer 150.000 exemplaires pour répondre à la demande.
  60. ^ Beaumont, Olivier (2018). Dans l'enfer de Montretout (in French). J'ai lu. ISBN 978-2-290-15039-9. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  61. ^ "The Greek-French Stepmother of Marine Le Pen | Greek Reporter Europe". eu.greekreporter.com. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  62. ^ Labacher, Paul (18 January 2021). "Jean-Marie Le Pen s'est marié à 92 ans". L'Obs (in French).
  63. ^ a b "Marine Le Pen, une riche propriétaire (comme son père)". Le Nouvel Observateur. 27 January 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  64. ^ Le général croate Gotovina arrêté en Espagne, RFI, 8 December 2005 (in French)
  65. ^ Le chauffeur de l'homme de la Question Archived 18 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine, L'Humanité, 10 December 2005 (in French)
  66. ^ "French far-right party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen in hospital after minor stroke". Reuters. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  67. ^ "French far-right veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen hospitalised after 'mild' heart attack". France 24. 16 April 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  68. ^ "Jean-Marie Le Pen, hospitalized after a heart attack, was able to return to his home". Globe Echo. 3 May 2023. Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  69. ^ "Jean-Marie Le Pen, placé "sous régime de protection juridique", annonce le vice-président du RN". France Bleu (in French). 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  70. ^ "Marine Le Pen exprime « des inquiétudes » concernant l'état de santé de son père Jean-Marie Le Pen". Ouest-France. 20 November 2024. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  71. ^ Willsher, Kim (26 February 2007). "Death penalty pledge as Le Pen launches election campaign". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  72. ^ Sharkov, Damien (20 November 2015). "France's Jean Marie Le Pen Calls For Decapitating Terrorists". Newsweek. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  73. ^ a b c "Le Pen convicted of inciting racial hatred for anti-Muslim remarks", Associated Press, 2 April 2004. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  74. ^ "France's far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen convicted of inciting racial hatred", Associated Press, 11 May 2006. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  75. ^ "SIDA" = Syndrome d'Immuno-Déficience Acquise, the French name for AIDS
  76. ^ "Le Pen et le sida: les modes de contagion et l'exclusion" Archived 26 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, L'Heure de vérité, Antenne 2, 6 May 1987 (QuickTime video, French). Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  77. ^ Renaud Dely, François Bachelot. Celui qui a soufflé à Le Pen ses «sidatoriums» poursuit sa carrière de cancérologue., Libération, 11 August 1999
  78. ^ Nicolas Domenach and Maurice Szafran, Le Roman d'un President, Pion: 1997, ISBN 2-259-18188-0
  79. ^ Douglas Johnson, "Ancient and Modern"[permanent dead link‍], The Spectator, 15 March 1997. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  80. ^ 'Libres Échanges'. L'Humanité Retrieved 30 May 2008 Archived 6 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  81. ^ Fifield, Dominic (30 June 2006). "We are, Frenchmen says Thuram, as Le Pen bemoans number of black players". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
  82. ^ Far-Right Le Pen's Slurs Fail to Upset France's Quest For Glory Deutsche Welle, 29 June 2006
  83. ^ "Le Pen rides to Sarkozy's rescue? | Certain ideas of Europe". The Economist. 12 April 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  84. ^ "French far-right party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen faces new hate trial". France 24. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  85. ^ Lec'hvien, Anne. "French far-right veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen on trial over Holocaust pun". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  86. ^ Arthur Neslen. "French National Front launches nationalist environmental movement". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  87. ^ "France's Jean-Marie le Pen fined for homophobic remarks". 28 November 2018.
  88. ^ "French court condemns Jean-Marie le Pen for anti-gay remarks". 29 November 2018.
  89. ^ McAuley, James (20 March 2017). "France's National Front co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen says the battle is already won". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  90. ^ "Jean-Marie Le Pen renvoyé devant la justice pour ses propos sur l'Occupation". Le Monde. 13 July 2006. Archived from the original on 20 July 2006. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  91. ^ "Le Pen Convicted for Racial Hatred", Associated Press, 2 June 1999. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  92. ^ 20 minutes [1]
  93. ^ Julian Nundy, "One-year election ban for Le Pen", The Scotsman, 18 November 1998. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  94. ^ ECtHR Admissibility decision in case No. 18788/09 (in French)
  95. ^ Présent, No. 1000, 17 January 1986, p.2-3.
  96. ^ "L'affaire du poignard du lieutenant Le Pen en Algérie", Le Monde, 17 March 2003 (in French)
  97. ^ "Le Pen et la torture, l'enquete du "Monde" validée par le tribunal", Le Monde, 28 June 2003
  98. ^ "J'ai croisé Le Pen à la villa Sésini" (I bumped into Le Pen in the Sesini Villa), interview with Paul Aussaresses (who had argued in favor of the use of torture in Algeria), Le Monde, 4 June 2002
  99. ^ "Un lourd silence", Le Monde, 5 May 2002
  100. ^ "Quand Le Pen travaillait 20 heures par jour" Archived 15 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine in L'Humanité, 2 May 2002
  101. ^ "New Revelations on Le Pen, tortionary" [dead link‍] in L'Humanité, 4 June 2002
  102. ^ "Le Pen attaque un élu du PCF en justice" Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, in L'Humanité, 4 April 1995
  103. ^ Jean Dufour: "Le Pen vient d'être débouté" [dead link‍], in L'Humanité, 26 June 1995
  104. ^ "Torture: Le Pen perd son procès en diffamation contre Le Monde"[permanent dead link‍], in L'Humanité, 27 June 2003
  105. ^ "French far-right leader Marine Le Pen to stand trial over alleged misuse of EU funds". Reuters. 8 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  106. ^ a b José Pedro Zúquete, Missionary Politics in Contemporary Europe
  107. ^ Josep M. Colomer (25 July 2008). Political Institutions in Europe. Routledge. ISBN 9781134073535. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  108. ^ Mark Kesselman, Joel Krieger, William Joseph, "Introduction to Comparative Politics" [2]
  109. ^ Michelle Hale Williams, "The Impact of Radical Right-Wing Parties in West European Democracies "[3]
  110. ^ Ipsos.fr – Political Action Barometer Archived 18 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine (French)
  111. ^ Lorimer, Marta (May 2017). "'Ni droite, Ni gauche, Français!' Mainstream populism and the future of Left/Right politics" (PDF). Prague Populism Conference – via ResearchGate.
  112. ^ Quentin, Francine (24 April 2002). "France: présidentielle 2002 – Le Pen trace "un avenir français"" (in French). Radio France Internationale. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  113. ^ McNeill, Tony (16 March 1998). "Le Front national". University of Sunderland. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  114. ^ Bruce Crumley in Time International magazine, (5 June 2002) writes: "Denunciations of Jean-Marie Le Pen and his xenophobic National Front (FN) as racist, anti-Semitic and hostile to minorities and foreigners aren't exactly new. More novel, however, are such condemnations coming from far-right movements like the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO), which itself won international opprobrium in 1999 after entering government on a populist platform similar to Le Pen's."
  115. ^ "In quotes: Geert Wilders". BBC News. 4 October 2010.
  116. ^ Le Canard Enchaîné, 9 March 2005
  117. ^ "Romania's first gift to the European Union – a caucus of neo-fascists and Holocaust deniers" by Ian Traynor, The Guardian, 8 January 2007
  118. ^ "France's Jean-Marie Le Pen joins European far-right alliance". 7 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  119. ^ Paris, Peter Conradi. "Marine Le Pen's father backs far-right rival Éric Zemmour for presidency". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 7 January 2022.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Bar-On, Tamir. Rethinking the French New Right: Alternatives to Modernity (Routledge, 2013).
  • Chombeau, Christiane. Le Pen: fille et père Panama Editions 2007
  • Fauchoux, Marc and Forcari, Christophe. Le Pen, le derniner combat Jacob-Duvernet Editions. 2007
  • Hainsworth, Paul. "The extreme right in France: the rise and rise of Jean‐Marie Le Pen's front national." Representation 40.2 (2004): 101–114.
  • Le Pen, Jean-Marie. Mémoires : fils de la nation Mueller Editions ISBN 9791090947221
  • Marcus, Jonathan. The National Front and French Politics: The Resistible Rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen (NYU Press, 1995).
  • Mayer, Nonna. "From Jean-Marie to Marine Le Pen: electoral change on the far right." Parliamentary Affairs 66.1 (2013): 160–178.
  • Shields, James. The extreme right in France: from Pétain to Le Pen (Routledge, 2007).
  • Singer, Daniel. "The resistible rise of Jean‐Marie Le Pen." Ethnic and Racial Studies 14.3 (1991): 368–381.
  • Soffer, Dalya. "The use of collective memory in the populist messaging of Marine Le Pen." Journal of European Studies 52.1 (2022): 69–78. online
  • Stockemer, Daniel, and Abdelkarim Amengay. "The voters of the FN under Jean-Marie Le Pen and Marine Le Pen: Continuity or change&quest." French Politics 13.4 (2015): 370–390.
  • Wilsford, David, ed. Political leaders of contemporary Western Europe: a biographical dictionary (Greenwood, 1995) pp. 271–74.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Jean-Marie Le Pen.

News articles and videos

Criticism

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jean-Marie_Le_Pen&oldid=1259842748"