Jean-Marie Le Pen, the flag-bearer of France’s far right, will be deprived the platform of addressing the full European Parliament after wary members forced through a change in its bylaws on Wednesday.
Under established procedure, the oldest MEP is granted the job of inaugurating the parliament’s new sessions – in this case, following European elections in June. Mr Le Pen, who turns 81 that month, would have won the job, assuming he was re-elected.
Yet MEPs, fearful of being associated with a staunch opponent of immigration and a repeated denier of the Holocaust, approved amendments that would instead see that job performed by the parliament’s outgoing president.
The rule change helped to cool what had been a steadily bubbling public relations nightmare for MEPs, with some arguing that removing Mr Le Pen would only draw more attention to him.
In a cunning “dinosaur” strategy, Graham Watson, head of the Liberals, had suggested instead putting up an even older candidate for election in an effort to bump Mr Le Pen.
Richard Corbett, the Labour MEP who drafted the amendment, expressed relief that the rule change had succeeded, noting that Mr Le Pen had repeated statements as recently as March that the Auschwitz gas chambers were merely a detail of history.
“This is not about silencing dissent – a rule change isn’t going to shut Le Pen up. The point is that the opening of parliament is a purely ceremonial occasion, not a free platform for a convicted Holocaust denier to make more outrageous and offensive statements.”
The Le Pen issue highlights what could be a larger challenge of confronting extremism in the parliament with next month’s elections expected to yield the best results in years for fringe parties on both the right and left. continues here
Under established procedure, the oldest MEP is granted the job of inaugurating the parliament’s new sessions – in this case, following European elections in June. Mr Le Pen, who turns 81 that month, would have won the job, assuming he was re-elected.
Yet MEPs, fearful of being associated with a staunch opponent of immigration and a repeated denier of the Holocaust, approved amendments that would instead see that job performed by the parliament’s outgoing president.
The rule change helped to cool what had been a steadily bubbling public relations nightmare for MEPs, with some arguing that removing Mr Le Pen would only draw more attention to him.
In a cunning “dinosaur” strategy, Graham Watson, head of the Liberals, had suggested instead putting up an even older candidate for election in an effort to bump Mr Le Pen.
Richard Corbett, the Labour MEP who drafted the amendment, expressed relief that the rule change had succeeded, noting that Mr Le Pen had repeated statements as recently as March that the Auschwitz gas chambers were merely a detail of history.
“This is not about silencing dissent – a rule change isn’t going to shut Le Pen up. The point is that the opening of parliament is a purely ceremonial occasion, not a free platform for a convicted Holocaust denier to make more outrageous and offensive statements.”
The Le Pen issue highlights what could be a larger challenge of confronting extremism in the parliament with next month’s elections expected to yield the best results in years for fringe parties on both the right and left. continues here
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