Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally party and a serious contender to be the country’s next president, said she is reconsidering her party’s relationship with Germany’s own far-right party, AfD, after a press report revealed AfD leaders have discussed deporting immigrants — as well as German citizens — who had “failed to integrate" into society.
Le Pen said the two parties are “strongly opposed” over the deportation plan. “We have never advocated for ‘remigration’ in the sense of withdrawing French citizenship from people who have acquired it, even under conditions we dispute,” she said at a press conference on Thursday.
The dispute could threaten the cohesion of the far-right bloc in the European Parliament, undermining the extreme right’s ability to influence European laws and projects including aid packages for Ukraine.
“We will have to discuss differences as important as these and see whether or not they will have (…) consequences for our ability to work together in the same group,” Le Pen said.
News that AfD leaders had met to discuss the deportation plan sent hundreds of thousands of Germans into the streets in peaceful protest last weekend, joined by Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz.
She said she would talk with her German counterparts about whether their significantly different views would have “consequences on our ability to be allied in the same group.”
Daniel Tapp, a spokesman for AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, played down Le Pen’s comments.
“As is usual among friends, we will seek a discussion to clear up any misunderstandings,” he said. “We will fully inform our partners in Paris about the completely baseless media campaign.”
Le Pen’s chances of succeeding Emmanuel Macron as France’s president are growing, with polls showing her leading the incumbent by 10 points — with almost 30% of voters saying they intend to vote for National Rally over Macron’s Renaissance party.
“It is a remarkable challenge for those who see through this newly built respectability to a lurking danger to democracy,” Le Monde columnist Sylvie Kaufmann wrote in the Financial Times. “The strong possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House after November’s US election is only adding to their sense of alarm.”