FRANCE-LE PEN/UPDATE France's Jean-Marie Le Pen calls for unity in his party as possible suspension beckons

Record ID: 143350

  • Title: FRANCE-LE PEN/UPDATE France's Jean-Marie Le Pen calls for unity in his party as possible suspension beckons
  • Date: 20th August 2015
  • Summary: NANTERRE, FRANCE (AUGUST 20, 2015) (REUTERS) FRENCH NATIONAL FRONT CO-FOUNDER AND FORMER LEADER, JEAN-MARIE LE PEN, WALKING MEDIA AT WORK (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH NATIONAL FRONT CO-FOUNDER AND FORMER LEADER, JEAN-MARIE LE PEN, SAYING: "I wanted to treat those facing me not as judges because I rejected them but as fighting comrades and I expressed the wish that this episode which has been rather polemic to be a stage towards an effective reunification of the National Front, that is my wish." MEDIA AT WORK LE PEN LEAVING CAR LEAVING WITH MEDIA FOLLOWING
  • Embargoed: 4th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9H41KP9MEIHQQ959EWOR86UAU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: French National Front co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen called for his party to "unite"on Thursday (August 20) after facing an executive board which was expected to later decide on whether he will be suspended from the party.
    It is the far-right party's latest attempt to neutralise a family feud that could hurt his daughter Marine's presidential election bid.
    After facing the board for three hours, the 87-year-old ex-paratrooper, who seemed slightly shaken and out of breath, called for the anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic party's members to unite.
    "I wanted to treat those facing me not as judges because I rejected them but as fighting comrades and I expressed the wish that this episode which has been rather polemic to be a stage towards an effective reunification of the National Front, that is my wish," he told the media who had been waiting outside.
    Courts have twice this year overruled as illegal the party's attempts to sideline Le Pen senior after he appealed against their actions.
    Jean-Marie Le Pen triggered the showdown last April by renewing past declarations of his view that the Nazi gas chambers were a mere "detail" of World War 2.
    That prompted Marine Le Pen to move against her father over an issue that could threaten her party's quest for mainstream power in France, and which has hampered her attempts to unite Europe's far right behind her.
    She has been seeking to rid the FN of its anti-Semitic image and position it as an anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic force offering protectionist economic policies to shelter ordinary French from the vagaries of globalisation.
    One big hurdle to that rebranding is her maverick father, who, from his position as honorary FN president, revels in regularly lobbing stink bombs into the French political debate.
    Marine Le Pen maintains a firm grip on her party - 94 voted to strip the founder of his honorary title earlier this year. Polls show her on track to make it to the second, run-off round of the presidential contest in 2017.
    But history shows ejecting her father carries risks. The party suffered sharps declines in the late 1990s after a messy split between Le Pen father, then leader, and FN number 2 Bruno Megret.
    He has vowed not to go without a fight and warned that the standoff could lead to an implosion.
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