Paris - Saba:
French Prime Minister François Bayrou considered US President Donald Trump's statements supporting Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, to be "interference in internal affairs."
In an interview with Le Parisien newspaper on Saturday, Bayrou said: "Yes, interference has become the law of the world today. There are two things about this: First, there are no longer limits to major political debate. Everything that happens here is transmitted to Washington. We are legitimately concerned about what is happening in Turkey, for example."
He added: "Then there is a more fundamental conflict: For 75 years—the lifetime of a human being—we have believed that our concept of democracy and the rule of law would inevitably spread across the planet."
On March 31, a Paris court ruled against Le Pen and several National Rally party deputies in a case involving the misappropriation of European Parliament funds, barring her from running in elections for five years. Later, the Paris Court of Appeal stated that it would not be able to decide on Le Pen's appeal against the ruling until the summer of 2026. Trump described the case against Le Pen as a "witch hunt," saying the only flaw was "a simple accounting error."
For her part, Le Pen herself announced on April 3 that more than 20,000 new members had joined her party after the ruling, and that a petition supporting her had surpassed half a million signatures.
The court banned Le Pen and her party members from running for public office for five years, effectively barring her from participating in the 2027 elections.
She was also sentenced to two years of house arrest with an electronic tag and a fine of €100,000, while the party was ordered to pay €1 million.
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