There are political supports that can be uncomfortable and even poisoned. That is the impression in France, always jealous of its sovereignty, after the American magnate Elon Musk enthusiastically expressed his preference for Marine Le Pen in next year’s presidential elections.
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On his X network, the richest man in the world reproduced the results of the latest polls, very favorable to the far-right leader, and added this comment: “She is France’s last hope.”
In Paris, they are aware that in the elections to choose Emmanuel Macron’s successor at the Élysée there will be foreign attempts to influence the outcome. It happened in 2017 and 2022, with clear indications that Moscow was behind it. However, it has caused some surprise that Musk moved so early and so transparently.
The American businessman, who has previously supported the ultra party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Orbán in Hungary, reproduced an original message from the Restore Great Britain account, the supremacist party founded last year by MP Rupert Lowe that positions itself to the right of Nigel Farage’s far right.
Proof of the importance the French government gives to Musk’s attitude, the Foreign Minister himself, Jean-Noël Barrot, responded with a mix of humor and irritation. “As we say in French, only fools don’t change their position,” he tweeted. Barrot wrote the first part of the phrase in English and then finished it in French. The allusion to the saying perhaps wanted to tone down the tone a bit so as not to seem so offensive.
A deputy from La France Insoumise (LFI, radical left), Antoine Léaument, denounced foreign interference and urged the public body guaranteeing freedom of communication (Arcom) to take action.
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Musk had already expressed his solidarity with Le Pen regarding the fraud process at the European Parliament. It is also known that two American diplomats visited a French magistrate, an unusual form of pressure.
In the absence of a reaction from Le Pen, one of the spokespeople of her party, the National Rally (RN), MP Laurent Jacobelli, tried to moderate. “It is true that Marine Le Pen is France’s last hope,” the parliamentarian agreed, then clarified that the French elections “belong to French fellow citizens” and foreign figures should not interfere. “I don’t think anyone can change things from abroad,” added Jacobelli. “What counts is not the opinion of people abroad or in the United States, whether rich or powerful; it is the opinion of the French.”
The RN has always maintained an ambiguous and cautious position regarding Trump, knowing that much of its electorate does not agree with the American president. Le Pen has criticized the way the war against Iran is being conducted.
Musk’s boldness in interfering in France contrasts with his refusal to testify in the French justice investigation for allegedly criminal practices of the artificial intelligence platform associated with the X network.
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