Catherine Field: France Correspondent on the trial of Marine Le Pen and the National Rally Party

A French far-right politician is on trial, accused of misappropriating EU funds. 

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally Party, along with the party itself and 24 others, are accused of using money destined for work at the European Parliament to pay staff working for their party. 

Le Pen denies the charges, and is confident she would be able to prove she did nothing wrong.  

France Correspondent Catherine Field told Heather du Plessis-Allan that they’re accused of diverting around $5.5 million New Zealand. 

She said they’ve paid back about a quarter of that sum, but the party did say it doesn’t mean they’re guilty. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
With us now as Catherine Field, France correspondent Castherron.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hello, good morning, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Okay, so we've got Marine la Pinon on trial. First
days wrapped up. How the first day go?

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Well, it was actually extraordinary, Heather, because not only did
we see that farright leader of the French National Rallih
Marine Penn, coming into the dock, but also twenty four
other members of her party, all of them on trial
for accused of embezzling European parliamentary funds. They all have

(00:32):
pleaded not guilty. What it relates to, Heather, is right
back in two thousand and four, when it was then
the National Front was really starting to get going in politics.
It was getting members into the European Parliament, but they
didn't really have the money to be able to operate
properly here in France. So what they did was, or
what they're accused of doing, is taking some of the

(00:55):
money that was given to them for operating in the
European Parliament and used it to give jobs, contracts and
all sorts of work to parliamentary assistants who worked for
the actual party here in Paris, rather than on European
Parliamentary matters.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
So the sums are quite exceptional.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
About five and a half million New Zealand dollars is
how much they're accused of diverting. They've already paid back
about a quarter, just every quarter of that. But they
did say that does not mean that they are guilty
of this. But of course comes really bad time for
her because this could really derail her presidential ambitions. She

(01:34):
seems to think that she's in for a chance, this
last chance in twenty twenty seven, when the French presidential
elections and next due to take place.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Of course, if she's.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Found guilty of embriziment, she could be not only sentenced
to prison term, but also the court could hand down
her right to stand for elected office.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
That would last for about ten years.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yep, quite a long double that would put it. That
would dash her hopes of any kind of leadership position
in politics, wouldn't it.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Oh, that would pretty much be the end of it. Yeah,
to come back from that, But they said she was
quite honest and court she said, look, we have not
violated any rules.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
I will be here.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
I will defend not just myself but also the way
the party was. So I think they've also been saying
over the years, there's this case. It's churned through because
it relates to what two thousand and four to twenty sixteen.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
They're saying.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
The problem is party financing. All the parties are doing that.
It's just you think we're the only ones doing it.
And so again we hear them playing the victim character.
You're only picking on us because we're the far right.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, of course, casn Now you guys have obviously got
yourselves a government and a prime minister. Finally, do you
think it's going to hold?

Speaker 3 (02:43):
This is the question, right, Well, that's right the seventh
of July when those elections were held, seen such a
long time ago, Dons.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
There is the prime minister and the government.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
And on Tuesday, the Prime Minister, Michelle Vanier will have
this sort of inaugural statement to the House. Parliament will
get to hear him set out his policy priorities will.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
At last who knows, who knows.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Apparently he's going to announce all sorts of rises and taxes.
He's going to talk about cutting some public services.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
It is a minority government. It is a very right
wing government.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
Considering that, also considering that majority of people voted for
center or left candidates.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Will he survives.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Well, he's clearly quite concerned about it because usually after
the Prime Minister sets out the policy priorities for the
next year, they put it to the vote in Parliament.
Now he's said, and the constitutionally he's allowed to do that.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
He said, there will be no vote in parliament for
his speech.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
How much do you reckon The Pope hated his trip
to Belgium.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Oh, I think he just hated it. He hated every
minute of the heather. He clearly misjudged the murder.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
He came to Belgium into Luxembourg thinking and hoping he
will get quite a good response. Well aware of course
that Europe has become so much more secular over the
last few decades, and also that there has been this
constant question mark of a whether the Vatican, whether the
Church itself in Belgium has shown enough sorrow, has acted

(04:20):
enough in all these allegations of sexual abuse.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Now, what was two things particularly very embarrassing for him here.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
That one was the Belgian Prime Minister and the Belgian
King both publicly asked the Pope to understand those who
had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
There was also criticism that.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
The Vatican had not moved quickly enough on the then
Bishop of Bruges who retired in twenty ten after admitting
sexual abusing his nephew.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
He was only defrault this year.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
And then, of course the Pope went to Belgium to celebrate,
if you like, six hundred years of the famous Catholic
University and live in and two of the stood up
and made speeches criticizing the Catholic Church, saying that they
needed to do more to have a role for women
within the church, they needed to do more for LGBT

(05:11):
Catholics and also you just saying you have to do more.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
So the Pope left went home.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Apparently on the way home on the plane he described
doctors who carry out abortions as hitmen. So you clearly
did not listen to any of the words that were
spoken to him during his trip and Belgium.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
He's probably happy to be out of there. Hey, thank
you very much, Catherine always appreciated. As Catherine Field, correspondent
from France. For more from the My Asking Breakfast, listen
live to news talks.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
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