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Le Pen’s return
Marine Le Pen’s candidacy for the presidential elections monopolizes the far-right’s space as the French channel LCI will host on August 27 the first major televised debate ahead of the presidential elections to be held in April 2027.
“LCI will host on August 27 the first major televised debate ahead of the presidential elections to be held in April 2027”
El País says Le Pen’s first appearance as a candidate came after she announced on July 7 that she would run despite being sentenced a few hours earlier by the Paris Court of Appeal to three years in prison, one with an electronic ankle bracelet, for misappropriation of European funds.
El País adds that Le Pen told television that night she would appeal to the Supreme Court to avoid having to wear the monitoring device during the campaign.
In the same account, Eric Zemmour said, “it is healthy that the French decide for themselves and not the Justice,” after Le Pen’s decision, while El País reports that Zemmour would not participate in the first televised debate because his candidacy had not yet been officially announced.
Wildfires as campaign fuel
POLITICO.eu frames the far right’s opening around France’s wildfire crisis, saying Marine Le Pen’s National Rally has cast the blazes as evidence the French state can no longer protect its citizens.
Edwige Diaz, a National Rally MP and close Le Pen ally from the fire-hit Gironde region, said, “Current events, alas, prove us right,” as she linked the wildfires to a broader inability to protect the public.
POLITICO.eu reports that the fires have burned more than 1,000 square kilometers across southwestern France since the start of the summer and forced more than 200,000 people from their homes.
The same POLITICO.eu account quotes Mathieu Gallard, research director at Ipsos France, saying, “I’m not sure they will benefit hugely in this case because they have very limited credibility on environmental issues,” while noting that Macron made an impromptu visit to the Bordeaux region on Monday to meet with local firefighters.
Banks, loans, and stakes
As France’s 2027 campaign financing becomes a flashpoint, LCP-Assemblée nationale reports that Crédit Mutuel Alliance fédérale said on Thursday that it would not finance candidates in the presidential election because the guarantees provided by the State would be insufficient at this time.
“the group will not finance any candidate”
LCP-Assemblée nationale quotes Daniel Baal, the bank’s chief executive and president of the French Banking Federation, saying, “the group will not finance any candidate,” while describing the government’s mid-July discussions at Matignon about covering part of the risk of non-recovery.
Franceinfo adds that Sébastien Lecornu assembled several major French banks on Monday to urge them to finance the 2027 presidential campaigns, including that of the National Rally candidate struggling to obtain a loan in France.
Franceinfo reports that Matignon’s objective is to avoid bringing foreign financial networks into the campaign, and it notes that Lecornu’s team says the government is trying to persuade French banks to grant loans for the April 18 and May 2, 2027 election.
