Paris, France:

Europe’s far-right is rising at an unprecedented pace. With Italy already in the bag and Germany seemingly there as the country votes this Sunday, France is not to be left behind. While Marine Le Pen may still be the most dominant figure of the French far-right, another young woman is fast gaining ground.

Sarah Knafo, a prominent leader of France’s far-right nationalist party Reconquest, gained prominence after she and her party chief Eric Zemmour were given invites to the Trump inauguration in January.

Known for her admiration of Donald Trump’s electoral campaign and his resurgence in the US and her strong support for Elon Musk’s outlook towards Europe, Ms Knafo, 31, is fast emerging as the most popular of leaders in France’s far-right factions.

Not to be left behind, Marine Le Pen, 56, also sent three members from her party – National Rally (RN) – for the Trump inauguration. She, however, chose not to attend personally. The last time she was to meet Donald Trump, in 2017, she was famously stood up by the President when she visited him at the Trump Tower in New York.

But during the Trump inauguration this year, Sarah Knafo was not just seen at the US Capitol for his oath ceremony, but also seen getting an invite to the Capital One Arena as well as the Liberty Ball in Washington DC that evening. She attended both with her party’s topmost leader Eric Zemmour.

Their party Reconquest has very strong anti-Islam views, including a complete nationwide ban on the name Mohammad, along with several stringent laws proposed to “deal effectively” with the spread of Islam in France.

As Sarah Knafo now rises from the shadow of 66-year-old Zemmour, she looks to blend Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s approach to appeal to voters in France. While far-right frontrunner Le Pen, who is touted by her party to be France’s next President in 2027, has been wary of her proximity to Trump and Musk as they are widely disliked across Europe, Sarah Knafo has openly embraced her closeness to the US leaders as she aims to be the driving force of her party.

Unlike Le Pen, who does not want to risk the hard-fought gains she has made across France, Knafo’s party which got 7 per cent of the vote share in the previous French presidential election, has an entirely different approach.

In an interview to news agency Reuters, Sarah Knafo said “Reconquest is the only party in France that defends this mix: pro-tech, pro-business, but also the defence of national identity.” Known for her pro-capitalist mindset, she believes that being pro-business and pro-tech is the only way to salvage a socialist country like France from not being left behind.

Like Trump, Knafo’s party has also proposed mass deportations of migrants in order to “preserve French identity”. She has decided to align her party with the new political order across the Atlantic. While she acknowledges that Trump’s techno-conservatism is a hard-sell in France – predominantly a Welfare State, she is confident that Trump would back her over Le Pen if the need arises.

While Le Pen’s party, known for its racist and anti-Semetic elements, has worked on the strategy to “de-demonise” the party to gain ground, Ms Knafo believes that “The de-demonisation aspect is the opposite of what Trump advocates”. “He (Trump) does not have much respect for it,” she added.

Le Pen also has plans to deport migrants should her party win the presidential election in France. She said her party was “the best placed in France to speak with the Donald Trump administration” regarding the issue. She gave the example of how US was pressuring Colombia to receive deported migrants – an approach she wants to emulate in France, should she become President in 2027.

Sarah Knafo studied at France’s prestigious ENA administrative college – the same college where President Emmanuel Macron graduated. She is adept to technology and fintech, and is known as a crypto-aficionado.

Knafo’s proximity to Donald Trump and Elon Musk grew after her speech in Brussels was spotted by Jacob Helberg, a Paris-born tech executive who Trump has nominated to be the State Department’s top economist. He recently invited her to the US for the Miami memorial of Hamas’ October 7 terror attack on Israel. There she had a meeting with Trump just before the US went to vote last year.

Her second meeting with President Trump was after his inauguration. While in the US, she also met crypto billionaire Michael Saylor. She said that the two of them discussed “the upcoming French elections”.

Ms Knafo also recalled how Trump reached out to her party chief Eric Zemmour in 2022 over his stand on Islam and migration. “Don’t give up,” Knafo recalled Trump telling Zemmour in a widely reported 2022 call. “Now you’re visible, all the media will be against you. They’ll say you’re too brutal, too radical. Don’t listen to them. Don’t talk to the media. Talk directly to the people.”

(Inputs from Reuters)
 

French member of parliament and President of the far-right National Rally Marine Le Pen delivers a speech in the National Assembly in Paris. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Paris prosecutor on Wednesday (November 13, 2024) requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, at a trial where she and 24 others are accused of embezzling European Union funds.

The trial, which comes almost a decade after initial investigations started, threatens to undermine her party’s efforts to polish its image ahead of a 2027 presidential vote many believe she can win.

On Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor requested a €300,000 (₹2.67 crore) fine, five years in prison and an ineligibility sentence against Marine Le Pen, with provisional execution. If the court finds her guilty of the charges with this provisional execution, Ms. Le Pen will not be able to run in elections even if she appeals the judgment.

“I note that the prosecution is being extremely outrageous in its demands, particularly with the request for provisional execution, which it wants to impose on everyone being prosecuted,” Ms. Le Pen told reporters while leaving court.

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Ms. Le Pen, the RN party itself, and 24 others — party officials, employees, former lawmakers and parliamentary assistants — are all accused of using European Parliament money to pay staff in France who were working for their party, which at the time was called the National Front.

“I am not surprised by the prosecution’s request for provisional execution. There is a consistency in the prosecution’s demands,” Patrick Maisonneuve, the European Parliament’s lawyer, said.

The trial will last until November 27.