Jean-Marie Le Pen, the firebrand cofounder of the French far-right National Front who was eventually kicked out of the party by his daughter, on Thursday confirmed that he had joined a little-known European extreme right movement.
Le Pen said he was now a member of the Alliance for Peace and Freedom (APF), a grouping of European far-right parties, which said the octogenarian had joined on March 22.
“We welcome Jean-Marie Le Pen at a time of revolutionary changes in Europe — our guide and leader for the oncoming struggles and victories,” the APF said in a statement on its Web site, calling him “the epitome” of “ideological coherence and resistance.”
LIBERAL FAILURE
“While the failed old Marxist and liberal policies are disappearing in the East and being questioned in the West, the idea of a Europe of traditions, sovereignties and identity is clearly dawning on the horizon,” it added.
Le Pen, who was elected to the EU parliament on a National Front ticket in 2004, but now sits as an independent, declined to comment on the move.
The APF does not have enough members to constitute a recognized group in the European Parliament, meaning its members currently sit in a non-attached capacity.
HISTORICAL ‘DETAIL’
Among its member parties are the National Democratic Party of Germany and the Workers’ Party of Social Justice in the Czech Republic.
Le Pen was booted out of his own party by his daughter, Marine, in 2015 for reiterating his view that the Nazi gas chambers were a mere “detail” of history and for defending France’s collaborationist wartime Vichy regime.
TAINTED PARTY
He also has a string of hate speech convictions, including against Muslims and Romanies.
However, he clung on to the title of honorary president of the National Front until last month, when Marine Le Pen changed the party statutes as part of her efforts to rebrand the far-right party that has long been tainted by a reputation for anti-Semitism.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, 89, has said he would not stand for re-election in European parliamentary elections next year.
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