The end of the road for Macron? French political crisis
- Thread starter Niall
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There's a lot more to this. Today is the 24th September, the 171st anniversary of the French planting the flag in New Caledonia, and for the last 20 years has been a local public holiday - a celebration for the French loyalists and a day of mourning for extremist indigenous kanaks. Following the insurrection of 13th May 2024 by extremist pro-independence supporters, a leading pro-independence structure has stated that it will make a unilateral declaration of independence today in front of local, national and international media. It's basically a publicity stunt, with no formal legal basis, but tensions are high, particularly following the deaths last week of two kanaks wanted for the attempted murder of gendarmes, shot in self-defence during an operation by a member of an elite police force (GIGN). So there are 6,000 internal security forces on the roads, ready to intervene in case of trouble. I, for one, am happy they're there.
But I too would be interested to hear the C's vision of France, especially with regard to social policy. Macron's handling of the situation here has left us incredibly angry and confused. Aside from the current economic desolation, a small group of 30 terrorists (let's be honest!) have caused the closure of the one and only road connecting 14,000 people to the rest of the island for over 4 months now, and there is still no solution in sight, despite the calls from the blocked population for forceful police intervention to bring the criminals to justice. Would this happen anywhere else in France?
It's on RT, which is banned in some countries, so I copy pasted it for those who couldn't access the link:
French prosecutors have asked a judge to slap former National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen with a five-year prison term and a ban from running for public office in an embezzlement case.
Le Pen and 24 other current and former members of the right-wing National Rally are accused of using €3 million ($3.3 million) in European Parliament money intended for payments to parliamentary assistants to fund work on internal party business from 2004 to 2016, in violation of EU law. All of the defendants have denied any wrongdoing.
During the proceedings in Paris on Wednesday, the prosecutors argued that Le Pen should receive the harshest punishment as she was a member of the European Parliament and the leader of the National Rally when some of the alleged violations took place. She led the party, which was previously called the National Front, from 2011 to 2021 and still remains a member.
Three years of Le Pen’s sentence would be suspended, and the other two could be served with an electronic bracelet, the prosecutors said. They also asked for her to be fined €300,000 ($316,000).
The prosecutors said the five-year ban on running for office should be implemented immediately, before the defense can appeal the ruling. This means that if found guilty, Le Pen would be disqualified from the presidential election in 2027. During the trial, which began in late September, she announced plans to run for president for the third time.
"It is clear that the only thing the public prosecutors wanted was Marine Le Pen’s exclusion from political life,” Le Pen told reporters after the hearings.
National Rally leader Jordan Bardella, who is not a defendant in the case, took to X to accuse the prosecutors of an “assault on democracy,” saying they are “seeking to persecute and take revenge on Marine Le Pen.”
The prosecutors also requested that the National Rally be fined €2 million, and that all of the others who are accused receive bans from running for public office from one to five years.
The defense will now present its arguments to the judge until the trial concludes on November 27. A verdict is expected in early 2025
