Published
Guest of franceinfo, the vice-president of the National Assembly reacted Friday to the trial requested against 27 people from the FN (now RN), including Marine Le Pen, for suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds.
“I note that these prosecutions come at a time when the European election campaign is about to begin, there are incredible chances in life”, quipped Friday September 29 on franceinfo Sébastien Chenu, vice-president of the National Assembly, while the Paris prosecutor’s office requested a trial for his party, the National Rally (RN) and 27 people, including Marine Le Pen. They are suspected of having taken money from the European Union between 2004 and 2016 to pay assistants to RN MEPs actually working for training. The procedure is eight years old.
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“It’s chance, obviously, and no one can think otherwise”adds the deputy from the North. “A parliamentary assistant is someone who supports an elected official in political functions, so he is involved in politics in the noble sense of the term. He has commitments, he can even have them outside of his office hours”, he argues. In its requisitions, the Paris prosecutor’s office mentions “a real system put in place to have the European Parliament bear part of the operating costs of the FN [l’ancêtre du RN] by covering the salaries of a growing number of its employees”.
“It’s an old war that the European Parliament is waging against us and others” And “we contest it because otherwise we are putting ourselves in the hands of this European Union”, adds Sébastien Chenu. Le Modem and its founder François Bayrou will be judged for comparable facts between October and November.