Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front party, has recently been garnering a lot more attention. Why? It seems she might be one step closer to becoming the French president in an upcoming election. This would make her far from what many people consider mainstream politics and lead to dramatic changes for Europe as a whole.
Marine Le Pen’s far is a political party that has been in the French parliament since June 2017. The party’s goal is to “eradicate the European Union and its values.”
PARIS— According to Russian and French government records, the far-right party of French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has begun paying a settlement of 12 million euros ($12.94 million) to a Russian military contractor under US sanctions, as part of a debt restructuring that gave her party more time to repay a loan it took from a Russian bank.
The €9.4 million debt was taken up by Aviazapchast JSC, a Moscow-based firm that provides Russian military aircraft and components throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, after the bank that originated it, Moscow-based First Czech-Russian Bank, went bankrupt in 2016, according to documents. According to the company’s corporate records, which make no mention of the transaction, holding loans is way outside of Aviazapchast’s typical line of business.
According to a copy of the deal seen by The Wall Street Journal, Ms. Le Pen’s party, National Rally, and Aviazapchast negotiated an arrangement in June 2020 that allows the party to pay €12 million in principle and interest to Aviazapchast in quarterly payments until 2028. The agreement came after Aviazapchast filed a case against Ms. Le Pen’s party at Moscow Arbitration Court for nonpayment of the debt.
Ms. Le Pen’s party was able to save money while she prepared to run for president thanks to the 2020 deal, which pushed the loan repayment deadline back almost a decade from its initial due date of September 2019. According to French election experts, this is significantly more time than French political parties typically have to repay banks when they borrow money. According to French election records, the party had been paying interest to a notary in Moscow but had not returned any of the principle by the original due date.
Ms. Le Pen will face President Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the French presidential election on Sunday.
During a discussion earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron (left) and far-right leader Marine Le Pen (right) faced off.
Maxppp/Zuma Press/Alexandra Marchi/Alexandra Marchi/Alexandra Marchi/Alexandra Marchi/Alexandra March
Aviazapchast did not respond to a request for comment. National Rally’s spokesperson and Ms. Le Pen’s spokeswoman did not reply to demands for comment on the deal.
The Russian corporation was eager to restructure the debt, according to Wallerand de Saint Just, a senior National Rally official who was engaged in the discussions with Aviazapchast. The initial loan had a rather high interest rate of 6%, which was retained under the settlement. Mr. de Saint Just said, “They thought their money was appropriately repaid.”
Ms. Le Pen said on Wednesday that the loan had been delayed for a long time.
During a discussion with President Emmanuel Macron, Ms. Le Pen stated, “We are a poor party, but that is not shameful.” She made no mention of Aviazapchast or the contract.
Mr. de Saint Just said that the party has continued to pay Aviazapchast pursuant to the settlement’s payment schedule. According to French campaign documents, Ms. Le Pen’s party made its first payment of the loan’s principal in the second half of 2020, transferring €1 million to Aviazapchast. According to Russian court documents, it was supposed to pay up to €1.3 million every year until 2028.
During a campaign visit in Gennevilliers, France, Marine Le Pen speaks with a worker on the left and Wallerand de Saint Just on the right.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images/emmanuel Dunand
Banks and other businesses are prohibited from making political donations under French law, although they are permitted to lend to campaigns. There are no time limits on when such loans must be returned under the law.
France’s campaign finance watchdog, the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing, said it looked into the settlement with Aviazapchast to see whether the repayment conditions might be deemed a type of contribution under French law.
According to the commission’s spokesperson, Frederique Dooghe, the settlement “could not be construed as indirect assistance” under French law since the arrangement adjusted rather than replaced the existing loan.
The Far-Right in France Marine Le Pen is attempting to soften her image in order to broaden her appeal.
In negotiating the settlement, Aviazapchast looked at the party’s responsibility to repay the debt under French law, according to Mr. de Saint Just. He claims he has no idea why Aviazapchast decided to take over the loan in 2016. He said the party had no say in the decision.
The Russian loan has fed fears that Ms. Le Pen is a puppet of the Kremlin, which have increased since Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February. Six months after Russia took Crimea and started backing an insurgency in eastern Ukraine, the loan arrangement was inked in September 2014.
“You can’t properly defend France’s interests on this topic since your interests are related to those close to Russian power,” Mr. Macron said during the discussion on Wednesday.
Ms. Le Pen said, “I am a fully and absolutely free lady,” later adding, “I have no other reliance except to return my debt.”
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Ms. Le Pen has long been an outspoken advocate of the Kremlin in Europe. In 2014, she backed Crimea’s annexation and argued against European sanctions against Russia. Ms. Le Pen has criticized Russia’s incursion in February and said that she supports the latest round of sanctions. She has also voiced reservations about sending arms to Ukraine, claiming that doing so would put France in direct confrontation with Russia.
As a result of the loan, France banned political parties from borrowing from banks based outside of the European Union or the European Economic Area, which includes Norway and Iceland. However, that regulation did not address the use of bank loans by political parties in general.
If a candidate receives more than 5% of the vote, the French state will repay up to half of their election expenditures. However, before election results are known, campaigns often depend on bank loans for funding, which they return after the state reimburses them.
Ms. Le Pen has claimed that her party was compelled to borrow money from outside France since no French bank would lend to them. She has requested that Mr. Macron’s administration establish a “bank of democracy” to support French political parties. Mr. Macron initially supported the concept, but later changed his mind when France’s top administrative court decided the initiative had not been thoroughly investigated.
“No bank wanted to lend me money,” Ms. Le Pen remarked during the discussion on Wednesday. “Why didn’t you finish this democratic bank, which you knew would fill in a democratic deficiency of banks that seem to pick and choose which politicians they support and which they don’t?”
Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen debated on Friday. In the second round of France’s presidential elections on Sunday, the two will square off.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images/ludovic Marin
According to company claims, Aviazapchast has rebuilt Russian military aircraft for Syria and provided oil and lubricants to the country’s air force. The US State Department placed sanctions on the corporation in November 2020 for breaking a US legislation aimed at preventing arms sales to Iran, North Korea, and Syria.
Aviazapchast has not been sanctioned as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. U.S. and European corporations are prohibited from selling components and services to state-controlled Russian aerospace and military enterprises as a result of Western sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to Mr. de Saint Just, the penalties have had no effect on the party’s capacity to pay the compensation.
Valery Zakharenkov, a Russian businessman, owns Aviazapchast, which also sells components for civil aircraft. Mr. Zakharenkov is identified as the proprietor of various firms in Ireland, and Aviazapchast has a business unit in France.
Requests for response from Mr. Zakharenkov’s Irish businesses were not returned.
Matthew Dalton can be reached at [email protected]
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Marine Le Pen is the leader of the “marine le pen party” which is a far-right political party in France. She has been an advocate for the protection of French interests, and has called for France to leave NATO.
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