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Original poster

Marine Le Pen

89 replies

Vegansausageroll · 09/04/2022 11:06

Is anyone else concerned that far right Marine Le Pen is looking a distinct contender for French President? Having a Putin supporter in power in France could lead to untold issues. A worrying trend of far right politics in Europe is on the rise once again, I think it will just add to the instability going forward at a time when Europe desperately needs a strong and united front.

OP posts:
QuentininQuarantino · 09/04/2022 11:10

Yes very. She’s awful.

Linguini · 09/04/2022 11:12

The problem is Macron, not Le Penn.

Le Penn isn't a "Putin supporter" she took a Russian loan which she's currently paying back but name anyone in politics who hasn't received Russian money. That's pretty much how Putin achieved global support until now.

Le Penn has always kept him at arms length and referred to Russia neurally, not supportively.

Macron however is a detached elite banker who hands millions out to his elite friends for no reason and let's Putin wrap him around his little finger. Macron has no connection to real working people of France.

Le Penn is actively trying to address the cost of living crisis. This speaks to the real people of France while Macron is too remote.

Linguini · 09/04/2022 11:13

It's worryingly similar to how Trump beat Clinton.

It wasn't because Trump was great in the slightest but because Clinton was so awful.

Macron is looking like The Clintons now and it's not popular.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Politics
Squiff70 · 09/04/2022 11:14

@Linguini

The problem is Macron, not Le Penn.

Le Penn isn't a "Putin supporter" she took a Russian loan which she's currently paying back but name anyone in politics who hasn't received Russian money. That's pretty much how Putin achieved global support until now.

Le Penn has always kept him at arms length and referred to Russia neurally, not supportively.

Macron however is a detached elite banker who hands millions out to his elite friends for no reason and let's Putin wrap him around his little finger. Macron has no connection to real working people of France.

Le Penn is actively trying to address the cost of living crisis. This speaks to the real people of France while Macron is too remote.

Tell me you're right wing without telling me you're right wing!
Original poster
Vegansausageroll · 09/04/2022 11:29

@linguni it’s more than the fact her party had the loan, it’s a dream come true for Putin to have such division and discord in Europe - especially as leader as one of the main players of the EU. She has only recently pulled back from her open support of Putin. Once elected she could easily disrupt the western consensus of support for Ukraine. Macron has very many faults that is not being denied but the thought of the far right running France is chilling.

OP posts:
Usou · 09/04/2022 11:39

People are obviously being taken in by the "far-right" descriptions in the MSM.

Regarding Putin, he previously made a number of points that would have found considerable sympathy around the west - that would have evaporated with the invasion of Ukraine.

KosherDill · 09/04/2022 11:48

Very concerned.

IpanemaFleur · 09/04/2022 11:52

She recently had to dump 5 million campaign leaflets because it showed a picture of her and Putin together. She is very much pro Putin.

Damnloginpopup · 09/04/2022 11:55

The French know who and what she and her party are and what they represent. I would not be surprised if they vote her and her party in. I'm just surprised they haven't before through my own experience of the French though work, family and visiting.

That's without even considering macron.

FourTeaFallOut · 09/04/2022 13:43

I can't help thinking that it must be more complicated than can be presented in such broad strokes as to suggest that Le Pens popularity is achieved simply off the back of a racist inclination of the French population.

I mean the gap between Macron and Le Pen has closed significantly since March...are we saying the French are more racist and right wing since March...does that make sense?

Meanwhile, Mélenchon is gathering pace and this, you would think would be that natural vote of your average far right racist - but clearly Le Pen voters aren't jumping ship otherwise her popularity would have reduced, not increased.

It makes sense to me LePen is riding on the back of a protest vote and speaks more about Macron's increasing lack of popularity. Hopefully it will come to nothing but at some point we can't just keep being surprised that people are pissed off with the status quo and leave the right to mop up political capital while the centre and left shrugs.

GCAcademic · 09/04/2022 13:47

Tell me you're right wing without telling me you're right wing!

It’s right wing to point out that Macron is an elitist banker type with no connection to the working class?

No wonder the Left is in trouble in France!

daffodilsbluebells · 09/04/2022 14:02

The left on the whole don't seem to have a an attractive programme for the 'working class' who aren't in the public sector or unionised, which is a lot of people as the populists have discovered. It is worrying.

balalake · 09/04/2022 14:05

Yes OP I am concerned as you are. At one point it looked like a four way contest for second place and therefore the opponent to Emmanuel Macron in the second round. Eric Zemmour has been found out as just a nasty right winger with no real substance, Valerie Pecresse alienated potential defectors from Macron, and Jean Luc Melachon has a manifesto that is even more of a fantasy then Corbyn in 2019 (so not captured enough of the Left/Centre).

If people don't all turn out to vote in the second round, Marine Le Pen could win.

workwoes123 · 09/04/2022 14:09

It’s not just about racism any more, though immigration is still a major issue. Many French people are concerned about the cost of living, fuel prices, reduction of services. A lot of working and lower middle-class French people still live in small towns and villages, where they’ve seen jobs (and pride) in traditional rural / urban fringe industries die off. They can still just about to live there thanks to France’s generous benefits system - but the France that macron is pushing for (urban, tech industries, pro European etc) means nothing to them. What they see are schools and medical services closing, farms being sold off and amalgamated, jobs being lost in small manufacturing industries, purchasing power going down and down.

Le Pens economic plans are incoherent and doomed to failure, but she sympathises warmly with their plight - whereas Macron promises to push the retirement age to 65. Le Pen is constantly described as right-wing: economically, she’s closer to being a socialist.

workwoes123 · 09/04/2022 14:12

I listen to French friends grumble on about Macron: having grown up under Thatcher, I really have to roll my eyes: they don’t know how good they’ve got it. It’s all relative I guess.

Original poster
Vegansausageroll · 09/04/2022 15:15

@workwoes123

I listen to French friends grumble on about Macron: having grown up under Thatcher, I really have to roll my eyes: they don’t know how good they’ve got it. It’s all relative I guess.
Aye that’s very true! I read that the French gas and electricity increases were capped at 4% compared to the 54% we have just faced!!
OP posts:
queenofarles · 09/04/2022 17:33

Le Pen and Zemmour Are cut from the same cloth, one is anti immigration the other hopes to impose ban on headscarves , the only people who tick these boxes are North Africans, who are already marginalised in France.

You can say what you want about macron but economically he knew what needed to be done and the result is a %7 in growth , right now France has never been this open and flexible. It certainly feels it’s recovered quicker than most countries post pandemic.

He’s not what I want but he is certainly the lesser than two evils.

Really worrying .

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 09/04/2022 17:37

I don't want her to win, but I do want Macron to lose.

sunshinesupermum · 09/04/2022 17:41

workwoes123 Agree with you.

My French partner is extremely worried about the possibility of Le Pen winning. It smacks of Americans voting for Trump and us Brits voting for Boris. Even Brits voted out Churchill after WW2! The electorate in general can be very stupid sometimes.

Macron is head and shoulders above Le Pen and leopards do not change their spots.

Cheesecakeandwineinasuitcase · 09/04/2022 17:46

I was just discussing this with my DH last night. Macron might annoy some people but he is moderate and stable. I do wonder if Russia has affected certain election results in order to destabilise the west. E.g. Brexit which only happened as a result of a tiny tiny minority. The Trump got in. I now worry that the same will happen with the French elections. Scary times

confusedttraveller · 09/04/2022 17:51

YANBU it's terrifying. Her, Johnson and possible Trump 2024. Heaven help us all.

TheNameOfTheRoses · 09/04/2022 17:53

5 years ago, lepen was already under Putin thumb and most Poe here seem to have been delighted to fact she could win.
Lost of talk about how she was like the Conservatives, similar ideas etc…..

I wish people would open their eyes.

If you are worried about LePen, be worried about BJ and the conservative. Both have been financed by the same people.

Is it worrying? Just as much as it was last time, 5 years ago.
Will she have that opportunity! Honestly I doubt it because we don’t have a first pass the post but two rounds and many people vote for whoever just to vote against her.
I’m happy people in France are worried. It will make more people going to vote.

But really if you want to be worried about France, be also worried about Orban and the U.K. with BJ etc…. I have no doubt that Putin has been playing that sort if games in every country in the EU and in the US. Much cheaper than (and safer) than a full on war.

Roselilly36 · 09/04/2022 17:55

Macron is the pits, Le Pen owns 6 Bengal cats, I doubt she will be worse tbh.

TheNameOfTheRoses · 09/04/2022 17:56

@Cheesecakeandwineinasuitcase there is absolutely no wondering that Putin has interfered with elections in the U.K.
Look at where the Leave vite got money from. Look at where the donation to the Conservatives is coming from. Look at Johnson and his ties with Russian oligarchs.

Look at the fact the inquest around the brexit election was stopped when it started to pull stuff about Russia.

Look at Aron Banks.

It’s there staring us in the face.

FOJN · 09/04/2022 18:06

Le Pen is constantly described as right-wing: economically, she’s closer to being a socialist.

Nationalism is always considered to be politically right wing so it's a convenient stick to beat Le Pen with. People become so focussed on this that they neglect the economic element which as you say is quite socialist and always has been for Le Pen. I'm relieved to see the National Rally manifesto is very tame compared to 2017, although I wouldn't feel particularly easy about Le Pen winning the election.