EU Lawmakers Remove LePen’s Immunity

European Union lawmakers overwhelmingly voted on Tuesday to lift the EU parliamentary immunity of French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen for tweeting violent images of the Islamic State (IS) group.

The offence being considered is “publishing violent images,” which under certain circumstances can carry a penalty of three years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros ($79,650).

Le Pen’s immunity shielded her from prosecution; lifting it would permit legal action against her.

Le Pen, a member of the European parliament, is under investigation in France for posting three graphic images of IS group executions on Twitter in 2015, including the beheading of the United States journalist James Foley.

Responding to a request from the French judiciary, the EU lawmakers in the legal affairs committee voted to lift her immunity. The preliminary decision was confirmed Thursday by a large show of hands in the EU Parliament.

Le Pen and members of her anti-immigration National Front party have denounced the move in Brussels as a political witch hunt to destabilise her presidential campaign.
“Showing and naming the horror of Islamism allow us to fight against it,” Florian Philippot, the vice president of Le Pen’s far-right party, told Reuters.

Tight presidential race

Le Pen, locked in an increasingly tight three-way race to succeed Francois Hollande this spring, has already seen her earnings as MEP cut for a separate case involving alleged misuse of EU funds.

She has called for a moratorium on judicial investigations until the election period has passed.

Polls indicate Le Pen looks set to win the first round of the two-stage election, but that she would lose in the final second-round runoff. They clearly show that her legal battles seem to have little effect on her supporters.

Le Pen’s immunity has been lifted before, in 2013. She was then prosecuted in 2015 with “incitement to discrimination over people’s religious beliefs”, for comparing Muslims praying in public to the Nazi occupation of France during World War Two.

Prosecutors eventually recommended the charges be dropped.  – (France24 with Reuters)

N.B.:I copied the text of the article from France24 because I don’t know how long they’ll keep it on their website.  The link is below, includes the video, which is in English. The Siemens ad is in French. You can get the French version by going to France24 in French at this link:   http://www.france24.com/en/20170302-eu-parliament-lifts-le-pen-immunity-islamic-state-violence-tweets

In regard to her campaign for France’s presidency, LePen seems to be hitting the same notes as our current CiC, Pres. Trump, following the same paths he took, by visiting farmers. Now since the French are noted for two specific things, wine and food, this makes sense, and les fermiers do appreciate her appearances, noting that unlike LePen, the other candidates are mostly passing them by.  Does that sound familiar?

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-farmers-idUSKBN16627O

Why is this important to us? Well, for one thing, France is a NATO ally, and as with the US elections last year, when you ignore les camionneurs, les fermiers, et les marchands ou les commerçants, you ignore the biggest tax base in your electorate.  

I have said previously that the political pendulum is slowly beginning its swing to the right. Should LePen be elected and Frexit becomes a reality, ask yourself what else may follow. There is a failure on the part of some NATO members to carry their share of the financial burden.  If those members cannot be persuaded to do so now, what will happen down the road?

Category: Foreign Policy