It was around 1 p.m. on January 7 that AFP learned of the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front (FN). The French political class reacted quickly, at the same time as the commemoration ceremonies for the attacks against Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher were taking place.
A “historical figure of the extreme right”
A few minutes after the end of the commemoration of the attack on the Hyper Cacher at Porte de Vincennes, the Elysée spoke about this disappearance in a press release. He describes Jean-Marie Le Pen as a “historic figure of the extreme right”, who “played a role in the public life of our country for almost seventy years”, and “who is now subject to the judgment of History.”
The RN salutes an “emblematic defender of the people”
On the side of the National Rally (formerly FN), the time has come to pay tribute to the man who has often embarrassed the party. He salutes the man who made national preference a battle horse, “an emblematic defender of the people”. “With him a page in French political history turns,” we can read in the press release from the far-right party. In a post on A reference which may be surprising, given that the acts of torture that the deceased allegedly carried out when he was a soldier in Algeria are regularly controversial.
Éric Ciotti, new traveling companion of the RN, describes on X Jean-Marie Le Pen as “a complex man, with gray areas, but also courage and sincere patriotism”.
The words of François Bayrou arouse indignation on the left
For his part, François Bayrou writes on We knew, by fighting him, what a fighter he was.”
These words sparked indignant reactions, particularly on the left. “Jean-Marie Le Pen, through his actions and his words, found himself outside the republican framework. He was even convicted for it. The words of François Bayrou are unworthy of our history,” reacted the communist senator of Hauts-de-Seine Pierre Ouzoulias on the social network. The environmentalist senator from Rhône Thomas Dossus denounces these comments, as well as those of Bruno Retailleau, Minister of the Interior, who said: “Whatever opinion one may have of Jean-Marie Le Pen, he will have undoubtedly marked its era. The elected official from Lyon castigates “a government which pays homage to a propagator of racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic hatred, to avoid the censorship of its heirs”.
The left is unanimous in the denunciation of a figure associated with racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism
On the left, reactions are unanimous in denouncing the actions and ideas of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Jean-Luc Mélenchon is among the first to react to X. He writes: “The fight against man is over. The one against the hatred, racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism that he spread continues.” The elected environmentalist Mélanie Vogel reacts: “Thoughts of the Algerians whom he tortured, of the victims of the Shoah whom he denied, of all the targets of the extreme right”. Among the Socialists, Calvados MP Arthur Delaporte directly targets the National Rally on The father’s heirs are still there.”
