DISINFO: Le Pen’s conviction seems part of Europe’s tendency to remove threats to power
SUMMARY
Marine Le Pen’s conviction, not only to four years of prison but also to a ban for public office for four years with the 2027 election looming in the horizon, seems part of the European tendency to remove threats to power. A French judge sentenced her for “democratic deviance”, a joke in a Europe plagued by coups or arbitrary disqualification of politicians that disturb Brussels’ Globalist and anti-Russian narratives. See the examples of Romania, Moldova, or what they attempted in Georgia.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative targeting the European Union as anti-democratic.
Marine Le Pen was not convicted for political reasons but because France’s judicial system considered proven, based on ample evidence, that she had embezzled millions of euros from European Parliament funds to pay assistants for members of her party for work unrelated to the EU. Le Pen’s banning from public office is the result of the so-called Sapin 2 anti-corruption law, passed in 2016, which establishes that politicians convicted of corruption charges cannot run for office for a certain period of time. Other French politicians from different political parties, such as Alain Juppé in 2004 and François Fillon in 2017, were convicted of similar charges before, proving that this is not a political persecution against Le Pen’s party but a criminal issue.
Mentions to alleged similarities in Romania, Moldova or Georgia are also baseless allegations that have been debunked multiple times. See here, here, here, here, here and here.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Le Pen’s sentence shows that the EU has become a dictatorship, that Brussels cracks down on pro-Trump European leaders, that European democracy kills anyone with a different opinion such as Fico, or that the US and EU only support democratic elections when the winner aligns with their interests.