A few hours after the announcement of the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the MEP “thanks” him for having “allowed” that “millions of French people are once again proud of themselves and their country”.
His reaction was highly scrutinized. A few hours after the announcement of the death of the founder of the National Front (FN) Jean-Marie Le Pen, one of his two political heirs, Marion Maréchal paid him a long tribute on the social network text published in the early evening, the MEP “thanks” first of all his grandfather to have “aroused, throughout your life, hundreds of thousands of vocations”. Like hers since a young age. Speaking directly to the five-time presidential candidate, the thirty-year-old salutes the career of her ancestor who “allowed, for a long time alone against all, millions of French people to be proud of themselves and their country again.”
Despite his racist provocations and anti-Semitic outbursts which have given Jean-Marie Le Pen the nickname “Devil of the Republic” over the years, his granddaughter does not take offense at his detractors, described as “mediocre” et “dishonest”Who “reduced to a vile provocateur”. “Those who knew you know what an extraordinary man you were.”she squeaks. Contrary to the criticism, Marion Maréchal affirms that her mentor was “an activist and a leader, a soldier and a man of letters, an underground miner and a deputy, a tribune and a visionary.” But also, on a more personal level, “an insolent, brawling, seductive comrade, with a ribald sense of humor”.
While the National Rally (formerly National Front) reached an unprecedented level in the polls 50 years after its creation (11 million votes during the early legislative elections of 2024), the former member of Vaucluse assures that this success carries with it the legacy of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Who “passed” is known «to awaken and alert the French, to keep the little flame of hope burning at all costs, wielding the word, the best of your weapons, as one wields the foil.”
A message mixing the intimate and the political, during which Marion Maréchal evokes a mysterious letter entrusted to her by Jean-Marie Le Pen thirteen years ago, when she entered the National Assembly. Without revealing the content of this missive, Marion Maréchal made a promise to her grandfather: “Leave alone, I won’t abandon the mission.”
