{"id":12760,"date":"2025-04-01T05:54:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T05:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=12760"},"modified":"2025-04-01T05:54:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T05:54:27","slug":"how-marine-le-pens-guilty-verdict-split-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=12760","title":{"rendered":"How Marine Le Pen\u2019s guilty verdict split Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This article is an on-site version of our Europe Express newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here<\/a> to get the newsletter delivered every weekday and fortnightly on Saturday morning. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newsletters<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Good morning. A scoop to start: Denmark\u2019s foreign minister\u00a0is set to meet the US secretary of state for bilateral talks this week, in the first high-level in-person meeting between the two countries since Donald Trump\u2019s election as president and his demands to \u201ctake control\u201d of Greenland.<\/p>\n

Today, Laura reports on how Europe\u2019s far right rallied to condemn Marine Le Pen\u2019s embezzlement conviction, and the head of Europe\u2019s biggest party tells me that Brussels is too institutionalised to tackle Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Rallying cry<\/h3>\n

Europe\u2019s far right rushed to defend their French colleague Marine Le Pen after she was convicted of embezzling EU funds yesterday, branding it a conspiracy to take out one of the continent\u2019s most prominent illiberal figures, writes <\/strong><\/em>Laura Dubois<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Context: A Paris court yesterday condemned Le Pen and other former European parliament members for siphoning off about \u20ac4.4mn in EU funds, benefiting their Rassemblement National party back in France. The verdict, which Le Pen says she will appeal, is likely to bar her from running for president in 2027.<\/p>\n

Prominent far-right politicians were quick to denounce the ruling as anti-democratic, pointing to Le Pen\u2019s record polling numbers in France. \u201cToday, it is not only Marine Le Pen who is being unjustly condemned: it is French democracy that is being executed\u201d, Le Pen\u2019s 29-year-old prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Jordan Bardella posted on social media platform X. <\/p>\n

Some compared the decision to Romania\u2019s recent ban of far-right candidate C\u0103lin Georgescu from the country\u2019s presidential race, following a disinformation campaign.<\/p>\n

S\u0142awomir Mentzen, who leads Poland\u2019s far-right Confederation party, said it was \u201cthe second time after Romania that the system has removed candidates who might pose a threat to it\u201d. Mentzen, whose party is appealing a national decision over alleged funding irregularities, has been climbing in polls ahead of presidential elections in May.<\/p>\n

Romania\u2019s new presidential frontrunner George Simion said: \u201cTargeting or annihilating your political opponent by any means is straight out of the instruction manual of totalitarian regimes\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is nuts. Lawfare is wrong whomever it targets\u201d, Greek economist and former politician Yanis Varoufakis wrote on X. \u201cFrance\u2019s neo-fascists will only benefit from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The backlash highlights the difficulties of enforcing democratic checks and balances on politicians who promote illiberal policies and at times break the law \u2014 but are growing increasingly popular, as mirrored by Donald Trump\u2019s assault on the legal system in the US. <\/p>\n

\u201cJustice has rightly been served in this case, where the French far right brazenly embezzled funds\u201d, said Transparency International\u2019s EU director Nick Aiossa.<\/p>\n

Damian Boeselager, a liberal EU lawmaker, said the verdict \u201cis not a witch-hunt. It\u2019s barring criminals from putting fire to the pyre\u201d. French Liberal MEP Pascal Canfin wrote on X: \u201cThe RN had only one thing to do to avoid finding itself in this situation: not cheat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chart du jour: Baby bust<\/h2>\n
<\/source><\/source>\"Line<\/picture><\/figure>\n

The number of babies born in Italy hit a new low last year, exacerbating the country\u2019s demographic woes.<\/p>\n

Brussels \u2018monster\u2019<\/h3>\n

The EU has become an institutional \u201cmonster\u201d that is unable to deal with Donald Trump\u2019s onslaught, the secretary-general of the bloc\u2019s biggest political party has warned.<\/p>\n

Context: US President Trump is yet to speak with any of the EU\u2019s institutional leaders. A wave of US tariffs is set to hit the EU tomorrow despite diplomatic entreaties by national leaders who have met with Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EU has become a monster of hyper-institutionalism\u201d, said Thanasis Bakolas, secretary-general of the centre-right European People\u2019s Party. \u201cIt is too institutional to deal with Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bakolas, who will step down from the EPP this month to found his own political consultancy, said the EU needed a more \u201cpragmatic political approach\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [EU] institutions are very strong and suck the air out of everything. We can forget in Brussels that we have thousands of officials, with enormous salaries tax-free, who feed off each other and perpetuate this institutional order,\u201d said Bakolas. \u201cHow connected are they to real folks? Real people, real businesses?\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009That has a lot of consequences on normal politics in EU countries, outside of the bubble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump upended everything. All the uncertainty and questioning caused by Trump has led [European] business to ask itself if it has a voice\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009and it is beginning to understand that this is not the voice they want\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

Bakolas, who was appointed three years ago after serving as a senior adviser to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, steered the EPP to victory in last year\u2019s European elections, in which they won one more seat than in 2019 despite a surge in support for rightwing parties.<\/p>\n

That resulted in EPP candidate Ursula von der Leyen being reinstalled as European Commission president for a second term.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe campaigned, she positioned herself on issues\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009She did it really well, and we won,\u201d Bakolas said. \u201cShe made economic competitiveness the key point of the campaign \u2014 and she not only meant it, but was right on the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to watch today <\/h2>\n
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  1. \n

    German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock and\u00a0Lithuanian foreign minister K\u0119stutis Budrys visit Kyiv.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    College of European commissioners meets in Strasbourg.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Now read these<\/h2>\n
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    Recommended newsletters for you <\/h3>\n
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    The State of Britain<\/strong> \u2014 Peter Foster\u2019s guide to the UK\u2019s economy, trade and investment in a changing world. Sign up here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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