The world is so dislocated that now being convicted of embezzlement can be an electoral advantage. Marine Le Pen will be a candidate in the French elections. And it also returns as a favorite. She is the greatest survivor of French politics.
Yesterday three judges confirmed her conviction for embezzlement, but allow her to run as a candidate for her party next year, even if she has to wear an electronic bracelet due to house arrest.
It will be Le Pen’s fourth attempt. In ’22 he lost against Macron with 41% of the votes. After the penultimate disappointment of Macronism, the far-right candidate’s party is the favorite. And being convicted by Justice not only does it not stop her in the polls, but it can be a twisted advantage for someone who has made a career agitating voters against the system and denouncing persecution against her. What will this sound like to me? In Le Pen’s favor there is also the epic story of the resurrection when everyone, even in her party, considered it over. Doesn’t this look familiar to you?
In times so fertile for populism, the legal ordeal goes from being a shame to giving a special aura among the faithful. They will not see inconsistency in having a judicial conviction that promises law and order (which is what the extreme right calls for regeneration). Being a victim of judicial persecution, real or fictitious, already scores more than coherence.
Le Pen’s return also frustrates the lukewarm European hopes that, if the French extreme right wins the next elections, it would go with Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s successor, more inexperienced and less anti-European than his mentor. In Brussels there was a widespread perception that Bardella would be a lesser evil, more pragmatic and governable, in the Meloni style.
Unlike Le Pen, Bardella never promised to abolish the European Commission, take France out of the EU or leave the euro zone. What is at stake if Le Pen wins is not only the future of France, but also of Europe.
Moral?
How Le Pen won in France
the European Union will be your hostage
