Yeah, was more complaining that even with a decent amount of effort, the key details of the story weren’t clear. The only coverage is Le Pen’s reaction to the verdict, which immediately frames the debate. A negligible number of English speakers are going to hunt for the details like I did, so most people will understandably sympathise with Le Pen purely due to lack of other available information.
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The big issue, possibly unprecedented in French politics, is being banned from running for office.
The French political system is littered with scandals of Presidents and others In high office. The scandals are mostly known when they hold office or run as candidates.
But up till now, there’s been some sort of implied immunity. They don’t get charged until they leave office.
The EL reporting has been more than Le Pen’s reaction. It’s about the right of the voter to elect a candidate , leaving the voters to decide whether a corrupt candidate offers them more than others.
There’s an underlying issue of disenfranchising, reflected in the responses of the likes of Melanchon on the far left. AP, France 24 and Le Monde have picked this up.
Compare the US system, where a convicted felon gets elected as President, prisoners serving sentences can run for office.
IIRC in Australia there are few constraints in our Constitution on eligibility as candidates convicted of crimes, the focus is more on financial conflicts of interest ( such as undischarged bankrupts )
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Yeah. Something I’m curious about is what level did the laws broken stem from? Were these French laws, upheld by a French judge on a French politician, or was it an EU law drastically impacting French politics?
Agree with you that there’s some serious moral issues being discussed in the coverage, I just find it difficult to judge any of the flow on effects of the judgement without clearly articulating the facts of the case.
Using criminal acts to block opposition involvement in an election is a dangerous line to walk. In Turkey the opposition has been arrested in recent days to block political change. But the flip side is a complete disregard for the law that can result in a slide into autocracy from the other direction.
The French Court has drawn on the OLAF investigations and confirmed evidence in regard to its applicability to French law and the impact on the French legal system as it applies to French political system.
It’s not about importing EU law. She was embezzling EU Parliament funds for her staffers to run French election campaigns.
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Doesn’t matter how they spin it, Le Pen stole EU funds to fund her campaign. They should have similar penalties here for the rorts that have been done with public money. All Parties have had instances of misusing funds, few have gone to jail. One we had locally was about fake printing invoices being funnelled through an MPs office. Four people were charged, not with the fraud, but with lying about it under oath, meaning a slap on the wrist. Reckon the French have the penalty about correct.
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Reporting is also leaving out the bits that France is a major contributor to the EU budget.
To that extent, she was also embezzling French money.
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Need to brush up on French history. The Le Pen supporters are referring to the Burghers of Calais and Montesquieu.
I did chortle at that.
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Well it is his money that’s down the drain now that she can’t run
Trump doesn’t like it either, it’s what’s been happening in the US - Government by Judges.
The French Judge has issued a strong letter on the impartiality of the judiciary, that the ruling is based on legislation enacted by elected MPs of the French Parliament.
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The problem with the US is the judges shift their interpretation of the law based on what their pre-existing beliefs desire.
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That what they’re elected to do.
When you have judges who are required to act like politicians to get their jobs, you get judges who act like politicians once they’re in their jobs.
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Orban welcomes Netanyahu in Hungary, announces Hungary’s intention to withdraw from the ICC.
The next State visit could be Putin.
Now that’s strange. Hungary is Russia’s Trojan horse in NATO, but Putin hates Israel, because it’s maintained by the USA. Why is Orban going against Russia to legitimise the Drumpf client state ?
Not sure how much that applies any more. The US is certainly getting closer to Russia, if that’s the only source of animosity Putin has to Israel (I haven’t been keeping up with what’s happening in Syria, for instance), then it may fade.
But in general, Orban can be relied on to favour autocracies (like Russia is, and like Israel is becoming) and to minimise at every point any consideration of human rights etc, because he’d very much like to be a full-blown autocrat himself.
If he shows himself to be Israel’s mate in Europe, at a time when that’s a bit shaky among some EU countries, then that gets him on Trump’s good side. And it lets him portray the enormous protest movement that just chased him out of his own capital as anti-semitic, and try to crack down on them with force, anti-terrorism laws, etc - the usual autocrat playbook.
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Farage’s Reform wins in a UK by-election, after being walloped in that seat at the General Election,
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European media are reporting that Merz failed to get up in the first round of the German Chancellor elections.
Reportedly the winning party in the elections has 14 days to put him forward for the next round or put up another candidate.
Is that the AfD playing it dirty after it was given the legal status of an extremist organisation?
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Merz has been confirmed after a second vote.
He’s done an about-face on some key election promises, hence some Bundestag members changed their voting intentions, however the result was unprecedented regardless.
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Tight election in Romania, with both the pro and anti EU candidates claiming victory.
Gave us this gem from the anti-EU candidate.
Edit - Looks like the pro-EU won.
Nicusor Dan - 54.3%
George Simion - 45.7%
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He was apparently claiming to have won by 400k votes. The far right has completely claimed victimised loser status internationally. I don’t know how that chimes with the ‘hard man’ fantasy, but I guess people who follow this path are a bit ■■■■■■ in the head.
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