Le Pen in secret pact with UK’s Far Right

Date: 15/05/03

By Martin Banks

JEAN-Marie Le Pen, leader of the French National Front, has held secret talks with Nick Griffin, his counterpart in the extremist British National Party, on forming a pan-EU alliance of right-wing parties to contest next June's European Parliament elections.

Griffin, speaking after their meeting at a London hotel, said: "We discussed the whole question of forming a bloc in considerable detail. It's probably not that far away now."

The details of the secret meeting were leaked to European Voice and confirmed by Bruno Gollnisch, unofficial leader of the French National Front (FN) deputies in the Parliament since Le Pen lost his seat for assaulting a Socialist politician.

"The talks were amicable and more are planned," said Gollnisch.

The British National Party (BNP) earlier this month trebled its number of seats in the British local council elections.

It immediately announced that it would fight next June's European elections, where it believes it stands a good chance under the proportional representation system by which parties can win seats with as little as 7.5 of the total vote.

Top of the agenda in the BNP-Le Pen talks were plans for the two parties to spearhead the creation of a right-wing grouping in Brussels, which could unlock direct funding from the EU budget.

Under proposals by German Social Democrat Jo Leinen on the status and financing of political parties, to be debated by the Parliament's constitutional affairs committee next week, any group would be entitled to funding if it has elected representatives in at least six member states.

Potential partners for the FN and BNP include Jörg Haider's Freedom Party in Austria, the populist Northern League in Italy and Belgium's anti-immigration party Vlaams Blok.

Bruno Gollnisch confirmed that the FN had already held talks with Vlaams Blok MEPs Frank van Hecke and Karel Dillen.

He said: "It seems to us that a formal alliance between these various groups would make sense, not least because it would give us the opportunity to have more influence in the European Parliament.

"At present, as non-attached members, we do not enjoy the same privileges - such as speaking time and funding - as political groups. We will talk to whoever is interested in this idea."

Gollnisch, 53, a law professor at Lyon University, is typical of the articulate, well-educated audience that the FN and BNP are keen to attract to their ranks.

BNP leader Griffin, a Cambridge graduate who has a conviction for inciting racial hatred, sought advice from Le Pen on how to emulate the success of the FN in gaining broader support.

In France's presidential elections last year, Le Pen caused a sensation when he saw off Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in the first round. Le Pen later lost the run-off to Jacques Chirac by a large margin.

The BNP was formed in 1982 and has gradually spread from traditional support bases in London and the Midlands to small towns in Wales, the West Country, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In the 1999 European elections, its candidates won 100,000 votes - not enough to gain a seat.

The possibility of the far-right forming a bloc was condemned by each of the three biggest groups in the Parliament.

Enrique Barón Crespo, leader of the Socialist group, said: "This unholy alliance goes against everything the EU stands for.

"If there is to be such a group in the next European Parliament we will have absolutely nothing to do with them - just as we have had no contact whatsoever with Le Pen and his friends in this and previous parliaments."

Hans-Gert Pöttering, the leader of the European People's Party group, echoed that, saying: "I would not be happy at the prospect of such a grouping and we will be watching this situation very closely."

Liberal leader Graham Watson said: "This is very worrying. Of course, everyone has the right to form a political group but when taxpayers' money is being used on anti-European and anti-democrat propaganda questions need to be asked."

The only dissenting voice came from Daniel Cohn-Bendit, joint leader of the Greens-European Free Alliance group. "We have to accept that anyone who is democratically elected to this Parliament has the right to form whatever political group they want," he said.

Richard Corbett, a Socialist member on the constitutional affairs committee which is due to discuss Jo Leinen's report on the future financing of political parties, said it was feasible that groups deemed to be "racist" may be excluded from such funding.

l Pat Cox, the European Parliament president, announced this week that Le Pen's seat in the chamber would be taken by Marie-France Stirbois, who was an MEP in the 1994-99 Parliament.

She is currently a member of the city council in Nice.

Le Pen, meanwhile, has lodged an appeal with the European Court of Justice against the decision to strip him of his seat.

The French National Front and the British National Party, extreme right-wing parties, are looking to form a pan-European alliance of right-wing parties ahead of the next elections to the European Parliament in June 2004.