Marine Le Pen defended herself Wednesday in the National Assembly of any “Russian tropism”, ensuring that she would never have signed the loan contracted in Russia by her party if it had committed her to “anything”. with Vladimir Putin. The former president of the National Rally (RN) was heard for nearly four hours by the parliamentary commission of inquiry into foreign interference. At the center of the discussions, a loan of 9.4 million euros contracted with a Czech-Russian bank in 2014 by the former FN, then led by Marine Le Pen.
Did it give rise to political pressure or compensation? “If that had committed me to anything, I would not have signed”, affirmed the leader of the RN, swearing to have “nothing to reproach (himself) in this affair” and mentioning a “perfectly legal, perfectly verified” loan.
It will prohibit foreign loans to political parties
She assured that, if elected in 2027, she will ban political parties from foreign loans. She also promised the creation of a “democracy bank” to help the parties finance their electoral campaigns, a recurring idea, including in the majority, but which Emmanuel Macron never followed up. The unsuccessful three-time presidential candidate dwelt on the critical financial situation her party was facing at the time, as well as on her difficulties in finding a European creditor.
In early May, before the same commission of inquiry, former FN MEP Jean-Luc Schaffhauser explained that he had been instructed by Marine Le Pen to find funds: “We could only find on the Chinese side, Iran, or Russia,” he said. “Marine Le Pen considered Russia to be the best.” “It was that or the death” of the party, the far-right leader confirmed on Wednesday. Was Vladimir Putin informed of the negotiation? “It is obvious that if the power in place was against, the case would not have been made”, noted Jean-Luc Schaffhauser. “Me, I sign a loan with a bank, I do not sign a loan with Vladimir Poutine”, replied Marine Le Pen indirectly.
“Crimea was Russian for two centuries”
Could the transaction, however, explain the support of the Frontist leaders for Russia after the invasion of Crimea, questions the commission. “Crimea was Russian for two centuries, it was Ukrainian for sixty years,” replied Marine Le Pen, assuring that “the arrival or not of a loan has not changed one iota the opinions that were ours forever”. What about support for the 2014 referendum, the sincerity of which was contested by all international observers? “I note that there were no refugees from Crimea,” quipped Marine Le Pen. “It was perfectly permissible for international bodies to reorganize a new one (…) to verify that people had voted freely”.
The movements of certain elected RNs on the spot to support the Russian positions? “Each MEP is free”. Marine Le Pen’s opposition to the sanctions taken by France and the European Union against Russia after the annexation of Crimea? “I had the same position as Les Républicains,” she swept away. “I formally dispute having taken any decision whatsoever to please anyone”, summed up the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, noting that “the only obligation we have when we make a loan is to to reimburse”.
The repurchase of the loan
Still, the case took an incredible turn when the bank went bankrupt, its debts being then bought in cascade by different companies. The last, to which the RN continues to repay its debt, is deemed as sulphurous as it is close to the Kremlin. “I have no responsibility in the structure that buys the debts,” defended Marine Le Pen. “If it had been La Redoute that had bought it, it would have been the same level of obligation for me: to repay my loan”.
Under the fire of questions from majority and opposition deputies, the one who had been received in the Kremlin a few days before the 2017 presidential election assured that she had “never had” a conversation on this loan and its buyout with Vladimir Putin . “Never! Nor with the political figures I met, in the Duma or elsewhere”. The commission of inquiry was launched by the RN group in the Assembly at the end of 2022, precisely to try to cut short the accusations of making the far-right party an agent of Russian influence in France. The other camps denounce a “diversion” of the National Rally. Its conclusions are due in early June.