A few days after the death of her father, Marine Le Pen explained that she did not “will forgive[it] Never “ the decision to exclude him from the National Front (FN, which became the National Rally in 2018), taken in 2015. In an interview published Sunday January 12 evening on the website of the Sunday newspaper, the one who succeeded her father at the head of the far-right party in 2011, said: “I will never forgive myself for this decision, because I know it caused him immense pain. »
“Making this decision was one of the most difficult of my life. And until the end of my life, I will always ask myself the question: “Could I have done things differently?” », she added. After several years of displayed political tensions, Marine Le Pen decided to exclude her father from the party, which he co-founded, by withdrawing his title of honorary president, after Jean-Marie Le Pen, already convicted of contesting crimes against humanity, declared that “the German Occupation had not been particularly inhumane”and promised the singer Patrick Bruel, Jewish, a “batch”.
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“The problem was that he was starting again”
Regarding the multiple convictions of his father – notably for having described the gas chambers as “detail of the history of the Second World War”, or several times for “incitement to hatred and discrimination” or even for homophobic insults – and despite their number, the boss of the RN deputies still says: “It’s a bit unfair to judge him solely on the basis of these controversies. »
“Over eighty years [de vie politique], Unless you are some sort of Sarkozy or socialist ectoplasm, it is inevitable to have topics that spark controversy.”judged Marine Le Pen to the media of the Bolloré galaxy, considering however that it is “unfortunate” that his father “got caught up in these provocations”. “The problem was that he was starting again”she still laments.
A provocative tribune, who reiterated and assumed throughout his life his racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic outbursts, Jean-Marie Le Pen was elected deputy in 1956 under the IVe Republic. This former Indochina fighter then returned to Algeria, where he used torture – which he admitted before retracting. On April 21, 2002, he created a surprise by reaching the second round of the presidential election behind the outgoing Jacques Chirac, succeeding in bringing the French extreme right out of its marginality.
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His death, at the age of 96, was announced Tuesday to Agence France-Presse in a press release signed “Le Pen family”. But the leader of the far-right party, who was on a plane bringing her back from Mayotte to mainland France, only learned about it afterwards, during a stopover in Nairobi. “At the time, I didn’t believe it. Then, out of conscience, knowing that he had very fragile health, I called my sister to find out what was going on. And she taught me that.”says the member for Pas-de-Calais.
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Marine Le Pen declared again on Sunday that she “did not think” that the rest of the political representatives were « capable » to pay homage to his father, saying “pleasantly surprised”. However, she criticized the Elysée press release, according to which “history will judge” Jean-Marie Le Pen. The one who lost twice in the second round of the presidential election estimated that the “The judgment of history will be much harsher for Emmanuel Macron than for Jean-Marie Le Pen. (…) History will record that he saw nothing and, above all, did nothing.”
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