Le Pen seeks funding from Russian banks for French presidential election
The President of the French right-wing populist party, the National Front, Marine Le Pen, requested foreign financial institutions, including Russian banks, to fund her election campaign, as she stated in her interview with French TV Channel BFMTV on January 4th.
According to her, all French banks have refused to give her a loan for her election campaign before the first round of presidential elections in France in April 2017. Currently, Le Pen is in need of 6 million Euros.
“I submitted requests to European, British, American, and Russian banks. It is clear that I will accept the very first offer,” the President of the party stated. According to Bloomberg, Le Pen originally planned to take out a loan from the micro-party, Cotelec, which is controlled by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
On the same day, Marine Le Pen stated in her interview with Reuters that France can abandon the Euro and return to the national currency, the franc, should she win the presidential elections. According to her, countries that are in the Eurozone should impose an ECU, a pre-eurozone currency system. Le Pen also noted that the foreign debt of France will be redenominated in the new currency if she wins the presidency.
In addition, Le Pen stated in her interview to BFMTV that Russia’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014 was legal. “The referendum was held there, the residents of Crimea wanted accession to Russia,” the President of the National Front said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said her statement disrespected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and ignores the fundamental principles of international law. Kyiv warned that such statements will have the same consequences as those applied to French politicians who have been denied entry into Ukraine.