by Lorenzo Rossi
A verdict that shakes the fifth republic. Marine Le Pen was hit in the heart by a sentence of the Paris Court: five years of ineligibility, immediately executive. Translated: his race to the Elysée in 2027 could have ended up even before starting. To this are added four years of imprisonment, two of which to be served with the electronic bracelet (as for Sarkozy). The charge of charge – embezzlement of European funds – is not new in the policy of the Alps, but the timing and severity of the judgment leave little room for interpretation. Or maybe too much. The Rassemblement National is in turmoil. On Monday afternoon, Marine Le Pen barricaded himself in the Parisian headquarters of the party, surrounded by his General Staff. It has been a move for war. The judicial attack, which arrives in a crucial moment for the reorganization of the European right, could force the party to choose a new standard-bearer. The name? The most accreditotio is certainly Jordan Bardella, the young Delfino, the man of the transition that reassures the bourgeoisie but galvanizes the base.
“We will appeal,” announced the lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut. But the appeal will have to arrive quickly and with a more indulgent verdict: without a suspension of immediate execution, the Le Pen is out of the game. The real question, however, goes beyond the personal fate of the leader: are we faced with an act of justice or a surgical operation to neutralize the only real anti -system alternative? The reactions are perfect polarization, as in any democracy in identity crisis. Robert Ménard, mayor of Béziers, shouts at the scandal: “The judges replace universal suffrage”. Laurent Wauquiez (LR) speaks of an “exceptionally heavy decision” and is said to be worried about the consequences on the free democratic game. Jean-Luc Mélenchon does not miss the opportunity to return to his old workhorse: “The revocation of an elected is up to the people. A republic is needed ». Éric Zemmour’s pressing him: «The Le Pen is entitled. It is up to voters to judge ». And so the conflict between politics and justice, between the government and the judiciary, where the first accuses the second of interference and Jacobinism and asserts that its latest legitimacy belongs to the people is proposed in all its virulence. It is no coincidence that the Le Pen has already received the solidarity of populist self -conscious from all over the world, from Orban to Putin to Erdogan. While the second accuses the first of populism.
But not all Parliament moves in unison. Prisca Thévenot (Renaissance) invites respect for justice: “Nobody is above the law”. Marine Tondelier (Eelv) attacks: “Anyone who preaches penalty applies to themselves”. And Fabien Roussel (PCF), with a quote from La Fontaine, closes the circle: “The law must apply to powerful and miserable in the same way”. In the meantime, the judicial machine does not stop. Le Pen’s party was sentenced to pay two million euros – one without conditional – and to return illegally obtained funds. Of the 24 defendants, only one was acquitted. Bruno Gollnisch, former number two of the RN, condemned, also announced the appeal. Marine Le Pen, who left the classroom even before reading the sentence, will speak to the French in the prime time television. It is a move as a wounded but not defeated leader, who knows how to move the battle from the court to the TV studio.
In the meantime, Éric Ciotti wonders if “France is still a democracy”, evoking a “witch hunt” against “too right” candidates. “It is always the same story, from Fillon to Le Pen”. Jordan Bardella, the Golden Boy of the new French right, takes the floor: «It is not only Marine Le Pen who was condemned. French democracy has been executed. ” The front broke out. The togas, willingly or nolent, entered the political game. Now the right must choose whether to resist, relaunch, or fall back. And the French people find themselves once again in front of the deforming mirror of their imperfect democracy. Will we go from TV to the square?
