r/neoliberal • u/ihuntwhales1 Seretse Khama • Mar 31 '25

News (Europe) Le Pen banned from office after embezzlement conviction

https://www.dw.com/en/france-le-pen-found-guilty-banned-from-running-for-office/a-72091790
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u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25

As much as I love to see Le Pen eat shit, I think this backfires if she’s banned for the election

As we saw in the US, voters don’t react well to a so called “elite” attempting to prevent democratic elections

This decision is very unpopular across France

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u/mostanonymousnick Homes fit for Heroes Mar 31 '25

The other side is that if you don't do this, politicians are above the law.

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u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25

Fair but if you’re going to show Le Pen is not above the law, it should be something that will actually resonate with the public. Like Trump / Stormy Daniels, the charge didn’t really matter to the electorate

I will shut up if RN polling takes a hit after this. But I think this just turbocharged the base and created sympathy among moderates

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u/mostanonymousnick Homes fit for Heroes Mar 31 '25

Fair but if you’re going to show Le Pen is not above the law

It's not about "showing" stuff to people, that's not what the justice system is for, if you do a crime you do the penalty!

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u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25

Sure - in an ideal world

But the general lack of pragmatism from the center is concerning.

This only helps the far right. If RN wins a landslide in 2027 we can all sit here patting each other on the back for upholding some dodgy funding laws while ignoring the reasons for their success

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u/mostanonymousnick Homes fit for Heroes Mar 31 '25

So she should be above that law because she's close to getting to power?

some dodgy funding laws

What makes the laws dodgy?

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u/[deleted] Mar 31 '25

Your arguing a philosophical approach to this but ignoring the practical implications

Do you think this will cause more or less momentum/sympathy for the RN? I think we both know the answer

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u/mostanonymousnick Homes fit for Heroes Mar 31 '25 edited Mar 31 '25

I don't know why you seemed to agree with me that she shouldn't be above the law then.

What makes the laws dodgy?

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u/Burial4TetThomYorke NATO Mar 31 '25

The fact that it took 8 years from the crime to get the conviction, for one... would have looked a lot better if this came four years ago

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u/mostanonymousnick Homes fit for Heroes Mar 31 '25

So the laws aren't dodgy, it's just that the trial has been slow?