If there was “French politicians corrupted by Russia, the French must know it“, estimated Saturday, September 24 on franceinfo, François Cormier-Bouligeon, Renaissance deputy for the 1st district of Cher, member of the Defense Commission. With seven other deputies of the majority, he is asking for the opening of a defense commission. parliamentary inquiry into possible Russian funding of French political parties. This follows declassified US reports alleging “several hundred million euros paid by Russiato political parties in several countries.
franceinfo: What do you expect from this commission of inquiry?
Francois Cormier-Bouligeon: The objective is to shed light on what may have happened in France, linked to these revelations brought to us by the American administration on these several hundred million euros which have been paid by Russia in democracies, in foreign countries, to influence their public opinion. We must clarify this to know whether, yes or no, French political parties, French political leaders, have been bought by Russia to intervene in French public debate. We need a commission of inquiry at the National Assembly to find out whether or not France is concerned by these revelations.
The National Rally did not hide having borrowed money from Russian banks, is it something else?
There have been quite a few disturbing facts in French political life for several years now, because several French leaders, on the far left as well as on the far right, have spoken very favorably to Vladimir Putin, which have not ceased only with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This support for Vladimir Putin has puzzled us for a long time, but there are other facts. There was Russian interference in the presidential election in 2017, there was the creation of Russian-funded media in France, there was also the hiring of former ministers and former parliamentarians by companies Russians. All this is not natural, so we must know where all these phenomena come from, and if they had an interference with French democratic political life.
Are other parties than the RN concerned in your opinion?
I am disturbed by the repeated pro-Putin declarations from Mr. Mélenchon and Mrs. Le Pen. Positions in a symmetrical way, on the extreme left and on the extreme right, which never seem to me to go in the direction of the interest of France. It is a support that questions me, since Vladimir Putin is at the head of a country that we respect, but which is not a democracy, and for a number of years he has been acting unfriendly towards States democratic. Finally, the invasion of Ukraine is only the logical continuation of Vladimir Putin’s policy.
Do you suspect the rebellious France of Jean-Luc Mélenchon of having received money from the Russians in exchange for support?
I’m not saying that, I wonder about what founds the positions of the far left and the far right, in particular but not only, to be so pro-Putin. We need to know if it is in connection with the revelations made by the American administration. The role of the National Assembly and of a commission of inquiry is to clarify this. Either nothing happened, and in this case, we must know it, or there were French politicians corrupted by Russia and the French must know it. The Constitution is very clear, it says that political parties contribute to the expression of suffrage and that they must respect the principles of democracy and national sovereignty. If it turned out that political parties, or their leaders, had received money to intervene in public debate, then it would be unconstitutional. A parliamentary inquiry is needed to establish the truth on this subject.
What do you think of the reaction of the RN which justifies these Russian loans by the fact that no French bank wanted to lend it money, and which also wants to open a parliamentary inquiry to determine if there are links between your majority and Qatar, China and American giants like Amazon?
Who feels brat blows his nose. The very quick reaction of the RN does not deceive anyone. They know they have ties with Russia, with illiberal democracies that are very close to Russia. All political parties can take loans, they have chosen to take loans from Russian banks and not pay it back in full when we are already in the next presidential election, so that is one of the troubling things public opinion. They don’t seem very calm in this affair, it smells of nervousness. We are not afraid of a parliamentary commission of inquiry, obviously that does not seem to make them very calm on their side.