729 Did Marine Le Pen visit Israel? - Cynthia McKinney

Did Marine Le Pen visit Israel? - Cynthia McKinney

Newsletter published on 4 Januari 2015

(1) Did Marine Le Pen visit Israel? - Cynthia McKinney
(2) Israel boycotts Marine Le Pen (2006)
(3) Marine Le Pen will continue to be boycotted by Israel (May 2014)
(4) Le Pen's deputy  Louis Aliot visits Israel (2011)
(5) Marine Le Pen: sever alliance with Saudi Arabia, ally with Iran instead
(6) Le Pen tells Haaretz she shares Israeli concerns with radical Islam,
but disagrees with Settlements
(7) Marine Le Pen & the Jews - poster defaced with swastikas
(8) Dédiabolisation: Women are flocking to Marine Le Pen
(9) Brigitte Bardot calls Marine Le Pen a new 'Joan of Arc'
(10) Gay Rights campaigner joins Le Pen, despite FN opposition to Gay
Marriage
(11) Spiegel Interview with Marine Le Pen: 'I Don't Want this European
Soviet Union'

(1) Did Marine Le Pen visit Israel? - Cynthia McKinney

From: HQ <email withheld>
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2015 03:26:20 -0500
Subject: Re: Globalization is barbarous, multinationals rule world -
Marine Le Pen

Peter, thank you for this edition that gives us good background on Le
Pen.  I read recently that she traveled to Israel.  What was the outcome
of that visit and how did it affect her views and policy recommendations?

Cynthia McKinney

Reply (Peter M.):

Cynthia, I can't find any reports that she visited Israel herself. It's
not something she could do in secret - she's too high-profile, what with
Brigitte Bardot calling her a new Joan of Arc.

However, she did send her deputy  Louis Aliot, in 2011

It turns out that there's a rich vein of material on her relationship
with Jews.

(2) Israel boycotts Marine Le Pen (2006)

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=10031

Israel boycotts Le Pen’s daughter

Sunday, October 29, 2006 |  by Staff Writer

An official delegation from the European Parliament, which was due to
arrive in Israel Sunday has cancelled their trip at the last minute
after Israel had sent a message that one of the delegates, the daughter
of French extreme-right-wing leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, is a persona non
grata in Israel.

Marine Le Pen is a member of “National Front Party” headed by her
father, and is boycotted by Israel. From the moment it was known that
Marine Le Pen was planning to participate in the visit, Israel sent
messages to the chairman of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs
Committee Elmar Brok, saying that she is an unwanted figure in Israel
and if she arrives, that could damage the entire visit. There was also a
danger that Israel will boycott the entire delegation.

The Foreign Affairs committee received the message and cancelled the
trip. Sources in the foreign ministry said that the Europeans clearly
understood the message and made the decision on their own.

A foreign ministry statement on the matter reads: “Israel attributes
great importance to its relationship with the institutions of the
European Union and has been conducting a diverse and lengthy
relationship with the European Parliament which included mutual visits
of delegations both in Europe and in Israel. The chairman of the Foreign
Affairs Committee of the European Parliament Elmar Brok is a welcomed
visitor in Israel, and so are delegations of the European Parliament,
but there is a special sensitivity to relations with the parties of the
far-right in Europe, including the National Front in France, that Ms. Le
Pen is a member of.”

(3) Marine Le Pen will continue to be boycotted by Israel (May 2014)

http://www.fdesouche.com/463925-israel-m-le-pen-ne-peut-pas-pretendre-obtenir-des-rdv-officiels

Israël : M. Le Pen « ne peut pas prétendre obtenir des RDV officiels »

Par Mnemic le 26/05/2014

Mai
2014

La présidente du Front national, Marine Le Pen, continuera à être
boycottée officiellement en Israël malgré la percée hier du parti
d’extrême droite aux élections européennes, a indiqué aujourd’hui un
responsable gouvernemental israélien.

« Marine Le Pen peut se rendre en Israël profiter du soleil comme
n’importe quel touriste détenteur d’un passeport, mais elle ne peut pas
prétendre obtenir des rendez-vous officiels si elle décidait de venir »,
a affirmé ce responsable qui a requis l’anonymat.

Interrogé sur les raisons du maintien de ce boycottage, ce responsable a
expliqué que Marine Le Pen n’a « toujours pas procédé a un aggiornamento
de son parti en dénonçant les propos antisémites de son fondateur, qui
se trouve être son père », Jean-Marie Le Pen. [...]

Le Figaro

GOOGLE TRANSLATE:
Israel, Mr Le Pen "can not claim to obtain official appointment"

The president of the National Front, Marine Le Pen, will continue to be
boycotted Israel officially yesterday despite the breakthrough of the
far-right party in the European elections, today said an Israeli
government official.

"Marine Le Pen may visit Israel enjoy the sun as any tourist with a
passport, but it can not claim to obtain official appointments if she
decided to come," said the official, who requested anonymity.

Asked about the reasons for maintaining the boycott, the official
explained that Marine Le Pen was "still no process has a aggiornamento
his party denouncing the anti-Semitic statements of its founder, who
happens to be his father," Jean Marie Le Pen.

(4) Le Pen's deputy  Louis Aliot visits Israel (2011)

http://www.jta.org/2011/12/13/news-opinion/world/le-pens-deputy-visits-israel

Le Pen's deputy visits Israel

By Marcy Oster

December 13, 2011 8:49pm

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Louis Aliot, vice president of France's National
Front party, is visiting Israel to try to drum up support for Marine Le
Pen in elections this spring.

Le Pen is the leader of the controversial political party founded by her
father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. She has been trying to distance herself and
the party from the anti-Semitic and xenophobic opinions expressed by her
father, who once called the Nazi gas chambers a "detail of World War
II." He was convicted in Germany for inciting racial hatred for the
statement.

Aliot arrived in Israel on Monday for a 48-hour visit. He and Le Pen
have been a couple for the last two years, according to the French daily
Le Parisien.

Aliot met with about 40 French Jews in order to present them with Le
Pen's platform. He also met with some Israeli political officials, none
Knesset members, according to Haaretz, and visited the Western Wall. He
was scheduled to visit churches in Bethlehem on Tuesday.

"This is the first time a National Front leader has visited Israel. It's
true that relations were tense for a time, but it's time to warm up the
atmosphere," Aliot told Haaretz.

(5) Marine Le Pen: sever alliance with Saudi Arabia, ally with Iran instead

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4160/marine-le-pen-chauprade

Marine Le Pen's Worldview: Oppose America, Embrace Iran

by Peter Martino
February 6, 2014 at 4:00 am

[...] Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National (FN), the most likely
winner of the upcoming municipal and European elections in France, held
a press conference on January 22, in which she presented the foreign
policy of her party, including a passionate plea for France to break off
its relations with Saudi Arabia and ally itself to Iran.

Sitting next to her foreign policy advisor Aymeric Chauprade, Le Pen
advocated that France should sever its links with Saudi Arabia,
"America's best ally" and a "dangerous country ruled by extremist clans,
who, since the origin of Wahhabism, have but one goal: to dominate
global Islam and turn it into jihad against all other civilizations." [...]

(6) Le Pen tells Haaretz she shares Israeli concerns with radical Islam,
but disagrees with Settlements

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Le_Pen

Interviewed by the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz about the fact that
some of her European senior colleagues had formed alliances with, and
visited, some Israeli settlers and groups, Marine Le Pen said : "The
shared concern about radical Islam explains the relationship ... but it
is possible that behind it is also the need of the visitors from Europe
to change their image in their countries ... As far as their partners in
Israel are concerned, I myself don't understand the idea of continuing
to develop the settlements. I consider it a political mistake and would
like to make it clear in this context that we must have the right to
criticize the policy of the State of Israel - just as we are allowed to
criticize any sovereign country - without it being considered
anti-Semitism. After all, the National Front has always been Zionistic
and always defended Israel's right to exist". She also opposed the
immigration of French Jews to Israel in response to radical Islam,
explaining: "The Jews of France are Frenchmen, they're at home here, and
they must stay here and not emigrate. The country is obligated to
provide solutions to the development of radical Islam in the problematic
regions".[76]

This page was last modified on 22 December 2014 at 19:46.

(7) Marine Le Pen & the Jews - poster defaced with swastikas

http://www.counter-currents.com/2014/06/marine-le-pen-and-the-jews/

Marine Le Pen & the Jews:
Treasonous Friendships, Strange Bedfellows, or Desperate Enemies?

Patrick Le Brun

Published: June 4, 2014

{photo} Marine Le Pen poster defaced with two typically Jewish slurs
{i.e. swastikas - end}

[...] Marine Le Pen has reached out to the Israeli government for an
official meeting but has been refused. Her retort to an annoying ambush
journalist at the time was “they feel like they have too many friends
already.” Israeli officials spontaneously reiterated their boycott after
the recent election. [...]

{photo} Jewish protesters trashed a national chain which sells tickets
to Dieudonné’s show. {end}

The supposed attack which precipitated a number of Jewish protests took
place at the train station which services both the worst ghettos around
Paris as well as CDG and the Eurostar to London. A Jewish man wearing a
kippah had just left a café near the Gare du Nord in the evening when
two men “who appeared to be of North African origin” pushed him against
a wall, drew a swastika on his chest, and shouted “Death to the Jews.”

He was saved at the last minute by a courageous goy who started shouting
at the two men. The two aggressors then ran off into the night never to
be caught. This story was given maximum news coverage. The French media
rarely report the race of criminals, but this time they were not so
timid. [...]

The very well-organized series of protest which followed were really a
continuation of the protests against Dieudonné at the end of 2013 which
first remobilized the Jewish Community of France. [...]

Finally, while he holds no official power in international relations,
Pope Francis does have an impact on public discourse. We are told that
while being driven alongside the separation wall during his visit to the
West Bank, this sanguine Italo-Argentine jumped out of his car with an
irresistible urge to press his forehead against the evil wall. He just
happened to be photographed in the exact same pose that EVERY leader in
the West has made by the Wailing Wall. [...]

(8) Dédiabolisation: Women are flocking to Marine Le Pen
http://www.economist.com/node/21560280

The Economist Aug 11th 2012 | PARIS

MARINE LE PEN has been in a litigious mood lately. In early July the
far-right National Front leader’s defamation suit against Caroline
Fourest and Fiammetta Venner, authors of a critical book on the Le Pen
family, came to trial in Paris. It was predictably embarrassing for Ms
Le Pen as a lot of familial dirty linen was being aired.

Undeterred, Ms Le Pen recently launched two other lawsuits. One is
against Bernard-Henri Lévy, a celebrity-writer, for suggesting that an
assault on three Jewish youths occurred because the National Front
fosters anti-Semitism. The other is against Madonna, a pop singer, for
superimposing a Nazi swastika on an image of Ms Le Pen that featured in
a background video at a concert in Paris.

Ms Le Pen’s increased sensitivity to her public image stems from
attempts to rebrand herself and her party over the past few years. The
often virulent anti-Semitism and chauvinism of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the
former leader of the National Front and Ms Le Pen’s father, has been
dispensed with in a self-conscious process of dédiabolisation
(decontamination).

In the recent presidential and legislative elections, the phalanx of
skinheads who often accompanied her father to campaign rallies have been
replaced with family-friendly faces. The nostalgic sentiments for Vichy
or a French Algeria that once helped galvanise the extreme right have
similarly been jettisoned. Whereas Mr Le Pen faced calls for his
prosecution in 2009, after he described the Nazi death camps as a
“detail of second world war history”, his daughter says the Holocaust
represents the “summit of human barbarism”.

Ms Le Pen’s more moderate course is working—in particular with women. In
a forthcoming study of voters undertaken after the recent presidential
elections, Nonna Mayer, a professor at Sciences Po, argues that the
increase in support for the National Front can almost entirely be put
down to a shift in the allegiance of working-class women. The ordinary
National Front voter remains “ethno-authoritarian” in outlook, typically
expressing a profoundly nativist resentment towards immigrants and a
belief that the state should take more concerted action towards clamping
down on foreigners. Now, however, that voter is almost as likely to be
female as male.

One group in particular has taken to Ms Le Pen. Approximately 30% of
women working in routine non-manual professions (largely sales reps and
shopkeepers) voted for her in the first round of the presidential
elections. Just 13 % of women in the same category voted for her father
in 2007.

An increased electoral appeal to women voters might help the National
Front break the traditional glass ceiling of around 15% that it has
struggled to breach in national elections. By minimising the gender gap
among its working-class base, the National Front could claim the support
of over 20% of the overall electorate, according to Ms Mayer.

New and younger candidates have also helped Ms Le Pen. Marion
Maréchal-Le Pen, a 22-year-old law student and niece of Ms Le Pen, was
one of two National Front candidates elected to the National Assembly.
Florian Philippot, who looks after the front’s communication strategy,
is a thirty-something graduate of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration,
an elite school, and just the sort of egghead insider whom the party
used to decry.

For all Ms Le Pen’s efforts, voters might eventually wise up to the
front leader’s willingness to change her position if it is politically
expedient. Her stance on reproductive rights is a salutary warning.
Despite having vowed that she would not reduce public funding for
abortion if elected to power, Ms Le Pen still seeks to rally pro-life
voters in a Catholic country by decrying women seeking “comfort abortions”.

Jean-Marie Le Pen remains a nuisance, popping up recently to suggest
that his daughter’s moderation on certain issues is a result of her
petit-bourgeois upbringing in the family mansion in a rather posh suburb
of Paris. His daughter will need to retain the support of the party’s
old guard. The National Front has split before, notably in 1998 when Mr
Le Pen’s long-serving deputy, Bruno Mégret, left to start his own group.
The front claims to have recruited many new members since Ms Le Pen took
over. Will they manage permanently to banish the anti-Semitic and
chauvinistic front of Le Pen père?

(9) Brigitte Bardot calls Marine Le Pen a new 'Joan of Arc'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11051530/Brigitte-Bardot-calls-Marine-Le-Pen-modern-Joan-of-Arc.html

Brigitte Bardot calls Marine Le Pen 'modern Joan of Arc'

Former actress Brigitte Bardot says she hopes the far-right leader will
be the saviour of France in a Paris-Match interview before her 80th
birthday

{photo} Brigitte Bardot has described Marine Le Pen as "the Joan of Arc
of the 21st century" Photo: Getty {end}

David Chazan, Paris

4:36PM BST 22 Aug 2014

Brigitte Bardot, the 1960s icon of liberated, bikini-clad French
womanhood, has described the far-right leader Marine Le Pen as "the Joan
of Arc of the 21st century" in an interview with Paris-Match.

The magazine published a topless photo of the former actress, taken in
1967 when she was 33, on its cover this week as she prepares to
celebrate her 80th birthday in September.

"I am a native Frenchwoman and proud of it," Bardot said. "I mourn the
fact that my beautiful country has deteriorated in every way. It's
criminal to submit to these depths."

Now an animal rights activist, she is an outspoken supporter of Ms Le
Pen's anti-immigration Front National party, which topped the vote in
European elections earlier this year amid widespread discontent with the
Socialist government over record unemployment and the stagnant economy.

"I hope she [Ms Le Pen] saves France. She is the Joan of Arc of the 21st
century," Bardot said. Burned at the stake for heresy in 1431, Joan of
Arc is a Roman Catholic saint, sometimes referred to as the "mother of
the French nation". [...]

(10) Gay Rights campaigner joins Le Pen, despite FN opposition to Gay
Marriage

http://www.france24.com/en/20141213-france-far-right-national-front-flirting-gay-vote-chenu-philippot/

Is France's far-right flirting with the gay vote?

{photo} (c) The president of the French far-right Front National party,
Marine Le Pen, gives a press conference with Sebastien Chenu, cofounder
of the Gaylib gay rights movement.

{end}

Text by Joseph BAMAT

Latest update : 2014-12-15

France's far-right National Front party announced Friday that the
cofounder of a prominent gay rights group was joining its ranks and will
be a future candidate in elections, a surprise move for a group that has
long been linked to homophobic views.

Party leader Marine Le Pen and Sébastian Chenu held a joint press
conference in Paris to confirm he was leaving the right-wing opposition
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party to work alongside the
anti-immigration National Front (FN).

Chenu, a former UMP general secretary, is mostly known in France as one
of the founders of GayLib, a gay rights group that also describes itself
as being in the centre-right of the political spectrum.

"I am joining Marine Le Pen because of her consistent views on Europe
and social issues," Chenu told reporters.

The 41-year-old politician accused the UMP of fully accepting France's
"submissive" relationship to the European Union. Chenu also added that
the UMP and Nicolas Sarkozy, the party's newly elected president, were
"alarmingly" out of touch with LGBT issues.

"[Sarkozy] declared that he supported striking down the gay marriage
law," Chenu lamented in reference to a November 15 speech in front of
party members. At the same time, he questioning the former French
president's true convictions on the subject: "he could have said the
exact opposite if he was speaking to a gay rights group."

Chenu's decision to join Le Pen, based, at least in part, on the
hot-button issue of gay marriage, has nevertheless confounded observers,
since the FN officially remains opposed to marriage-equality legislation
France adopted in 2013, commonly referred to as the "Mariage pour tous",
or Marriage for all, law.

"I will remind you that we are opposed to the marriage for all question,
and that we have declared we would repeal the law," Louis Aliot,
vice-president of the FN and a European MP, was quick to point out in an
interview with Radio France International (RFI) on Friday.

Aliot insisted Chenu and the FN had found common ground in their shared
rejection of transferring political powers to the EU. [...]

* Sebastien Chenu worked for FRANCE 24 from March 2007 to August 2008.

(11) Spiegel Interview with Marine Le Pen: 'I Don't Want this European
Soviet Union'

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/interview-with-french-front-national-leader-marine-le-pen-a-972925.html

Interview with Marine Le Pen: 'I Don't Want this European Soviet Union'

Interview Conducted By Mathieu von Rohr

In a SPIEGEL interview, French right-wing populist Marine Le Pen
discusses the European election victory by her Front National, German
dominance in the EU and her admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

SPIEGEL: Ms. Le Pen, having won 25 percent of the French vote, your
Front National party stands as one of the primary beneficiaries of the
May 25 European Parliament election. How could such a thing come to pass?

ANZEIGE Le Pen: The French want to regain control of their own country.
They want to determine the course of their own economy and their
immigration policies. They want their own laws to take precedence over
those of the European Union. The French have understood that the EU does
not live up to the utopia they were sold. It has distanced itself
significantly from a democratic mode of operation.

SPIEGEL: Yet, prior to the election, it was said that the establishment
of lead candidates for the two biggest groups -- Jean-Claude Juncker for
the center-right and Martin Schulz for the center-left -- would
strengthen democracy in the EU.

Le Pen: That is totally bogus. Everybody knew that the parliament
wouldn't be making the final decision on the next president of the
European Commission.

SPIEGEL: Do you want to destroy Europe?

Le Pen: I want to destroy the EU, not Europe! I believe in a Europe of
nation-states. I believe in Airbus and Ariane, in a Europe based on
cooperation. But I don't want this European Soviet Union.

SPIEGEL: The EU is a vast project for peace. It has helped ensure 70
years without war on the Continent.

Le Pen: No. Europe is war. Economic war. It is the increase of
hostilities between the countries. Germans are denigrated as being
cruel, the Greeks as fraudsters, the French as lazy. Ms. Merkel can't
travel to any European country without being protected by hundreds of
police. That is not brotherhood.

SPIEGEL: You now intend to head to Brussels only to fight the system.

Le Pen: And why not? The EU is deeply harmful, it is an anti-democratic
monster. I want to prevent it from becoming fatter, from continuing to
breathe, from grabbing everything with its paws and from extending its
tentacles into all areas of our legislation. In our glorious history,
millions have died to ensure that our country remains free. Today, we
are simply allowing our right to self-determination to be stolen from us.

SPIEGEL: In truth, though, you didn't win the elections because of the
EU, but because the French are furious with their economic situation and
with President François Hollande. Have you thanked him?

Le Pen: No. Then I would have had to call Nicolas Sarkozy as well.
France is in this situation because the conservative Union for a Popular
Movement (Sarkozy's party) and the Socialists (Hollande's party)
submitted to European treaties. These treaties promote German interests
quite well, but they are poor at defending France's interests.

SPIEGEL: Germany is to be blamed for France's misery?

Le Pen: Whenever I hear people utter anti-German sentiments, I say: You
can't blame Germany for defending its own interests. I can't blame Ms.
Merkel for saying she wants a strong euro. I place the blame with our
own leaders who are not defending our interests. A strong euro is
ruining our economy.

SPIEGEL: Why would you say that the euro is only helping Germany?

Le Pen: For a very simple reason: It was created by Germany, for Germany.

SPIEGEL: It was François Mitterand who wanted the euro in order to
contain Germany. In fact, it was difficult for the Germans to give up
their beloved deutsche mark.

Le Pen: That's another story. Mitterand wanted to push integration
forward with the euro. But from an economic standpoint, the euro is
German. Were we to return to our national currencies, the D-Mark would
be the only one to appreciate in value, which would be a competitive
disadvantage for Germany. Our currency, by contrast, would be devalued,
which would give us a bit of room to breathe.

SPIEGEL: In other words, votes for EU-skeptics are votes against Germany?

Le Pen: There's no doubt that the model we are advocating is less
positive for Germany than the current model. Germany has become the
economic heart of Europe because our leaders are weak. But Germany
should never forget that France is Europe's political heart. What is
happening here today foreshadows what will happen in the rest of Europe
in the coming years: the great return of the nation-state, which they
wanted to obliterate.

SPIEGEL: Do you see Angela Merkel as an enemy?

Le Pen: I have respect for leaders who defend the interests of their
countries. Her policies are positive for Germany, but they are
unfortunately harmful for all other countries. My warning is: Be careful
Ms. Merkel. If you don't see the suffering that has been imposed on the
rest of the European people, then Germany will make itself hated. She
believes it is possible to pursue policies In other countries against
the will of the people. She would never do that in Germany, where
election results are being respected. But she wants to impose her
policies on others. This will lead to an explosion of the European Union.

SPIEGEL: Do you really want France to leave the euro?

Le Pen: I have been saying that since the French presidential election
campaign. It is a difficult issue and I have taken a big risk. I know
very well that the political classes have spread fear among the
electorate: Without the euro, the sun will cease shining, the rivers
will stop flowing, we will enter an ice age ...

SPIEGEL: An end to the euro would surely lead to an economic disaster.

Le Pen: I don't believe that at all. It would be an unbelievable
opportunity. If we don't all leave the euro behind, it will explode.
Either there will be a popular revolt because the people no longer want
to be bled out. Or the Germans will say: Stop, we can't pay for the poor
anymore.

SPIEGEL: You are now bringing 24 representatives with you to Brussels ...

Le Pen: ... as the fourth biggest party group behind the German
Christian Democrats, the Italian Democratic Party and the German Social
Democrats.

SPIEGEL: But to build a parliamentary group, you need representatives
from seven different countries. You have an agreement with the Dutch
right-wing populist Geert Wilders, the FPÖ from Austria, the Lega Nord
from Italy and Vlaams Belang from Belgium, but that isn't enough.

Le Pen: I am optimistic that we will be able to establish a
parliamentary group. I have a series of meetings coming up soon.

SPIEGEL: The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), though
EU-skeptic, has refused to cooperate with you. Party head Nigel Farage
has said the Front National is anti-Semitic.

Le Pen: And David Cameron says that UKIP members are crazy and racist. I
think it is good that UKIP is as strong as we are. But they already have
a parliamentary group and see us as competition. Hence, the insulting
accusations.

SPIEGEL: Would you like to work together with UKIP?

Le Pen: It would certainly be a possibility. We have the same
fundamental approach to Europe.

SPIEGEL: You and your possible allies are all opposed to the European
Union. But what, for example, do you have in common beyond that with
someone like Geert Wilders?

Le Pen: That's enough!

SPIEGEL: He is in favor of gay rights while you are opposed to gay marriage.

Le Pen: Why should I care about that? For me, the fight for sovereign
nations is enough. Everybody should be able to choose according to his
own values and history, within a European civilization that we all
belong to.

SPIEGEL: You have excluded the possibility of cooperating with
right-wing extremists such as the Golden Dawn party from Greece or the
German neo-Nazi party NPD. What about Germany's euro-skeptic party AFD?

Le Pen: They have yet to show interest in such a cooperation. We share
certain viewpoints with the AFD, but they are not a party of the people.
Rather they are an elitist party with a different structure from ours.

SPIEGEL: Is France actually suffering from a kind of depression?

Le Pen: There's something to it. We used to be one of the richest
countries in the world, but we are now on a path towards
under-development. This austerity that has been imposed on the people
doesn't work. The people will not allow themselves to be throttled
without revolting.

SPIEGEL: Still, the French sovereign debt is massive.

Le Pen: The French debt will remain massive. The more austerity one
imposes, the more growth suffers, the lower tax revenues remain and the
higher the budget deficit. Plus, the government has saved by making cuts
to useful expenditures instead of to the damaging expenditures. Savings
should be made with cuts to the generous social system, which grants
illegal immigrants the same protections as it does our citizens. And
with welfare fraud; and with the EU contributions, which rise every year.

SPIEGEL: Does the Front National want France to return to the early
1960s: A protectionist state that steers the economy, an authoritarian
head of state and less immigration?

Le Pen: It is undeniable that the French were in a better situation then
than they are today. I don't look in the rearview mirror. But there was
no need for us to experience an end to social progress since then. It
makes no sense that we took on 10 million foreigners within a period of
30 years.

ANZEIGE SPIEGEL: Do you really think that France can hide from the world?

Le Pen: I'm not talking about autarky. I'm not crazy. We need an
intelligent protectionism. We need customs duties again -- though not
for countries that have the same social (security) levels as we do.
That's fair competition. The problem is the total opening of borders and
allowing the law of the jungle to prevail: The further a company goes
today to find slaves, which it then treats like animals and pays a
pittance, without regard for environmental laws, the more it earns.

SPIEGEL: Is free trade really such a bad thing?

Le Pen: Trade has always existed, but we used to defend our strategic
interests. Could you imagine the United States allowing (French
engineering giant) Alstom to purchase General Electric? I don't think
so. And I don't want (Germany's) Siemens to buy Alstom. I want Alstom to
remain French. That is strategically important for my country's
independence.

SPIEGEL: But Alstom has major problems.

Le Pen: One could nationalize a company, even if only temporarily, in
order to stabilize it.

SPIEGEL: When you took over the Front National in a desolate state from
your father in 2011, did you really think that it could become France's
strongest party?

Le Pen: Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have done this. If I didn't
believe that we had a chance of coming to power, then I would have
focused on taking care of my three children or gardening.

SPIEGEL: Since taking over leadership of the party, you have worked on
the "de-demonization" of Front National. Have you finally achieved that
with this election result?

Le Pen: Certainly among the people. But the elite, of course, continue
to defend themselves. But are we treated like every other party? No. Not
by the press and certainly not by the political classes.

SPIEGEL: What is the real Front National? On the one hand, you have your
young deputy Florian Philippot, a self-described Gaullist. On the other,
you have your father, who recently said that "Monseignor Ebola" could
solve the global population explosion within three months.

Le Pen: He did not say "could". And that was not his wish, it was merely
a concern he expressed. You know, they used to describe Gaullism as
being the "metro crowd at rush hour." That's where you find Jean-Marie
Le Pen and Florian Philippot, you find craftsmen, heads of companies and
civil servants. We want to represent all the French people with ideas
that are neither left nor right: patriotism, defense of the identity and
sovereignty of the people. If a person like me is described as being
extreme-left and extreme-right at the same time, then that isn't far off
the mark.

SPIEGEL: Front National is an anti-immigration party. Polls show that
immigration is the issue of greatest concern to voters.

Le Pen: Yes, we support putting a stop to immigration.

SPIEGEL: Why such xenophobia?

Le Pen: Xenophobia is the hatred of foreigners. I don't hate anyone.

SPIEGEL: In Germany today, there is far more immigration than in France.
Despite this, there are no parties like yours.

Le Pen: We have millions of unemployed and cannot afford any more
immigration. Where are they supposed to live? It is not viable.

SPIEGEL: Is your success the product of the failure of the elite?
Socialist politician Samia Ghali argues that the French wanted someone
who spoke to their hearts and that you, unfortunately, were the only one
who did so.

Le Pen: Our political class no longer has any convictions. You can only
pass along the beliefs that you hold. They no longer believe in France
-- they have a post-national worldview. I call them France-skeptics.
That's why democracy is collapsing here in France.

SPIEGEL: Prime Minister Manuel Valls still has convictions. They just
aren't the same ones that you have.

Le Pen: I don't believe that. He is a man with no convictions
whatsoever, just like Nicolas Sarkozy. These are people who will tell
you anything just to further their little careers.

SPIEGEL: Perhaps you're simply saying that because Valls, who was
interior minister before becoming premier, is the only member of the
government who is actually even popular with your voters.

Le Pen: He is popular because the others in the government are
unpopular. Interior ministers are always popular because they give
people the feeling that they are taking care of security, even when they
are just people with tough words and a soft hand.

SPIEGEL: Do you think you'll make it into second round of voting in the
2017 presidential elections?

Le Pen: I think that is a very credible hypothesis, yes. Everyone admits
that today. If you look at the polls you'll notice that we have at least
as many potential voters among non-voters as we do among voters. I have
said, and I believe that we will, come to power within the next 10
years. It may even happen faster than some can imagine.

SPIEGEL: Hollande is less popular than any president who preceded him.
Are you already focusing your presidential campaign entirely on Nicolas
Sarkozy?

Le Pen: I don't shoot at ambulances. Sarkozy is already finished as a
candidate.

SPIEGEL: You mean because of his entanglement in the finance scandal
surrounding his UMP, which has already forced party boss Jean-François
Copé to resign?

Le Pen: Yes. Now he's finished. He cheated. He violated the laws of the
Republic and spent twice as much on his campaign as is allowed by law.
By doing so, he has totally disqualified himself. Incidentally, I regret
it, because I would like to have had him as an opponent.

SPIEGEL: Why?

Le Pen: Because he is who he is.

SPIEGEL: Why are you supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin in his
position against Europe in the Ukraine crisis?

Le Pen: I do not support Putin against Europe. This is a caricature. I
support a federalist Ukraine. The EU poured fuel on the fire by
proposing an economic partnership to a country known to look half to the
East and half to the West.

SPIEGEL: Do you admire Putin?

Le Pen: I have a certain admiration for Vladimir Putin because he
doesn't allow decisions to be forced upon him by other countries. I
think he focuses first and foremost on what is good for Russia and the
Russians. As such, I have the same respect for Putin that I do for Ms.
Merkel.

SPIEGEL: Putin isn't a democrat.

Le Pen: Oh really? He isn't a democrat? There are no elections in Russia?

SPIEGEL: There is no freedom of the press, for example.

Le Pen: But you think that there is real freedom of the press in France?
Ninety-nine percent of the journalists are leftists!

SPIEGEL: That's what you think. But journalists aren't killed and they
aren't locked up.

Le Pen: To be honest, there are many things said about Russia because
they have been demonized for years at the behest of the USA. It is part
of the greatness of a European country to develop one's own opinion and
to not view everything through the US lens. We have no lesson to teach
Russia if we concurrently roll out the red carpet to Qatar, Saudi Arabia
and China.

SPIEGEL: So you are more opposed to the US than you are in favor of Russia?

Le Pen: The Americans are trying to expand their influence in the world,
particularly in Europe. They are defending their own interests, not
ours. I am in favor of a multi-polar world in which France once again
takes its position as the leader of non-aligned states, not with the US,
not with Russia and not with Germany. One should strive to be neither
slave nor master.

SPIEGEL: Ms. Le Pen, we thank you for this interview.