Marine Le Pen barred from running for office in France

[BrightShinyGirl]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0ylgjew1xo

 

[DeluxAuto]

That's how a fully functioning government should handle right wing extremist politicians.

 

[Bray123]

Oh, that the US could have such high standards for political office.

The French Right Wing, 'how unfair, banning someone just for embezzling tax-payer's money.'

 

[MajorRewrite]

The French right wing nuts are doing their Trump impersonation: “LaWFarE!!!!!”

Criminality is central to authoritarian/right-wing political parties.

 

[73Seahawks]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0ylgjew1xo

Code for Le Pen got uppity and found OUT.

 

[Cat]

That's how a fully functioning government should handle right wing extremist politicians.

It was not because of her politics. That would be very, very wrong!! The court should never interfere with politics.. just like politicians should not interfere with the work of the court.

- But, because she was found guilty of embezzlement of EU money.

And, that is a bloody serious crime. We need to be able to trust our politicians to act lawful. Embezzlement is a sign of lack of morals and respect for the system. That needs to be punished.

 

[Lazaran]

A very similar thing happened in the US:

DonOld signed a law making mishandling of classified documents a felony, and then the traitorous orange POS mishandled classified documents.

The major difference is DonOld was NOT HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS CRIMES like Le Pen was.

Score one for France.

 

[Politruk]

How was an out-of-power party leader in a position to embezzle EU money?

 

[Cat]

How was an out-of-power party leader in a position to embezzle EU money?

Not that difficult, the political system in EU is heavily dependent on trust and honesty.

As a party, you will get an account with money, every month actually, for the expenses you have; paying the staff in EU, food, rent.. a whole lot of things!!

Thing is, Le Pen took that money, meant for her party in Brussels, and used them in France! On her party in Paris.

That is a huuuuuuge no go.

And why her party in Brussels got a 2 million Euro fine, and Le Pen herself got a 100.000 Euro fine. On top of the 4 years prison and may not hold public office for 5 years.

 

[Cat]

Oh, and the way she got the money from EU, was by "hiring" 4 staff members.. and requiring money to their paycheck.

The only problem, those 4 people only existed on the paper.

- The verdict today was in no way a political verdict.

Marine Le Pen is guilty of a serious degree of embezzlement in politics and economics.
The law needs to be equal for all, and just because you have intensions and aspirations of becoming a president, that does not give you carte blanche in front of the judges.

Of course there will be people trying to spin this is their favour.
- but if you think about it, what would happen to the faith in the law, the court system, the fairness.. if she walked free?

 

[deft]

- jails lawbreakers

- elects lawbreakers

 

[Lazaran]

- jails lawbreakers

- elects lawbreakers

Un-American MAGAts elected the orange lawbreaker.

It isn’t really fair or accurate to use an American flag emoji in your comparison.

 

[deft]

Un-American MAGAts elected the orange lawbreaker.

It isn’t really fair or accurate to use an American flag emoji in your comparison.

True. I apologise. But you know what I mean?

 

[PaxNurgle]

That's how a fully functioning government should handle right wing extremist politicians.

The thing is, not exactly. In a free and democratic society there needs to be clear evidence of wrongdoing and law breaking in order to bar someone from running.

And there WAS!

Just like there was with Donald Trump. There was clear, concrete, and conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, crimes that would land an ordinary citizen in jail.

The key difference is, in France, the system worked. A criminal, law-breaking politician was barred from running in accordance with the laws and the Constitution.

In America, the system failed. A criminal, law breaking politician was able to skirt the law and flout the Constitution, by means of several "enablers" in the government who refused to hold him accountable for his crimes. This is why democracy is so imperiled in America. It isn't just a right-wing vs left wing extremism thing. Had, say, Obama been able to get away with the same crimes as Trump did, and be allowed to not only run for office afterward but serve in it- then that would be the same issue.

 

[Chernosoth]

How much time does France have left as a nation?

 

[Politruk]

How much time does France have left as a nation?

More than the U.S., probably.