Thanks to money from the public allocation which accompanied its good electoral results, the RN got rid of the “Russian loan”, this loan of an amount exceeding six million euros contracted to the company Aviazapchast.
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The National Rally announced on Tuesday September 19 that it had repaid the entire loan it had taken out with a Russian bank. He paid off the entire six million loan he had taken out in 2014, with a bank close to the Kremlin, and hurried to make it known. If he was able to make this repayment early, while he still had several years ahead of him, it is thanks to money from the State and therefore from the taxpayer. Indeed, its good results in the legislative elections of June 2022, and obtaining a group of 88 deputies, allowed it to double the amount of public funding that it receives each year. The RN now receives more than 10 million euros per year.
An annoying thread on the leg
Thus the party got rid of a particularly annoying thread. We remember Emmanuel Macron’s formula during the TV debate between the two rounds of the 2022 presidential election: “When you talk to Mr. Putin, you talk to your banker!”, he told Marine Le Pen. After courting Moscow for years, it has continued to show great indulgence towards the Kremlin since the start of the conflict. Against the advice of the international community, the RN recognized the annexation of Crimea, opposed most arms deliveries to Kiev and did not vote in favor of the entry of Finland and from Sweden to NATO. In May, the report of a parliamentary commission of inquiry even concluded that the RN had become a “Russian power transmission belt”.
A not-so-collective “collective naivety”
As the European election campaign approached, it was therefore urgent for Jordan Bardella to get rid of this accusation. But when he confessed a few months ago “collective naivety” of the National Rally against Vladimir Putin, he got a slap on the wrist from his superior.
So far, Marine Le Pen has not changed her position. She has not given any sign of a real break with the Kremlin. This is also a subject of further disagreement with the leader of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni, a fervent Atlanticist and firm supporter of Volodymir Zelensky. Let’s say that if she continues to take pro-Russian positions tomorrow, Marine Le Pen will at least be able to certify that it is not out of venality, but out of an authentic political choice.