On June 9, 2024, the French voted to elect their new Members of the European Parliament. At the end of the vote, Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen's party came in first, followed by President Emmanuel Macron's party, then that Raphaël Glucksmann. Far-left party La France Insoumise, meanwhile, garnered over 8% of the vote, enabling eight deputies to join the European Parliament.
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Today, we focus on the heady past of the daughter of the far-right party's founder, Marine Le Pen. Here's what you need to know.
The Le Pen family was the victim of a terrorist attack
On the night of 1 to 2 November 1976, the Le Pen family was hit by an attack targeting twelve apartments in their Paris neighborhood. The Parisian family home of Front National founder Jean-Marie Le Pen was historically located at 9 rue Poirier, in Paris's XV arrondissement. The whole family was together that evening, including the couple's three daughters, Marine, aged 8, and her two older sisters, Yann and Marie-Coline, aged 13 and 16 respectively.
The attack was extremely violent. Twelve apartments were blown up by more than five kilos of dynamite. Fortunately, no deaths were reported, and only six people were slightly injured, including an infant who fell from the fifth floor. He escaped with nothing but a broken arm. Following an investigation by the Paris public prosecutor's office, the police confirmed that this was indeed an attack on the President of the Front National, who escaped without injury.
According to journalist Olivier Beaumont, the whole family was traumatized and shocked, except for the father. Indeed, while the daughters' first reflex was to see if their dogs were all right and unharmed, Jean-Marie Le Pen simply picked up the television that had fallen to the ground in the explosion. While his daughters lay frightened in bed, the politician did not deign to go upstairs to check on them and reassure them. According to the author, his wife, who later abandoned the family for fifteen years while her daughters were still young, reprimanded him, saying in particular:
Do you honestly think this is the right time to do this?
Historic European elections
The European elections on June 9, 2024 saw historic scores. Indeed, the far-right Rassemblement National party, led by Jordan Bardella, who succeeded Marine Le Pen, was elected with almost 32% of the vote. This gives the party a relative majority in the European Parliament, with 31 MEPs. In second place, we find the party of current President Emmanuel Macron, in a list led by Valérie Hayer, with 14 seats. Finally, third place went to Raphaël Glucksmann's socialist party, Place Publique, with 13 seats in the Parliament. At the end of the elections, 81 MEPs were elected.
Following his defeat, Emmanuel Macron announced, on Sunday 9 June, his decision to dissolve the National Assembly. The first round of elections were held on Sunday 30 June and the second will be on 7 July.
The European elections were held in all the countries of the European Union, and a very large number of states now find themselves with a majority of far-right MPs. Of the 720 MEPs, 181 are conservatives. Behind them, 132 MEPs are socialists or democrats. There are 52 ecologists in the whole Union combined.
This article has been translated from Oh!MyMag FR.
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Sources used :
Gala: Le saviez-vous ? Marine Le Pen et ses sœurs ont échappé à un attentat le soir de la Toussaint
La Dépêche: Européennes 2024 : Rima Hassan, Nadine Morano… qui sont les 81 députés français qui vont siéger au sein du Parlement européen ?
Le Monde: Résultats européennes 2024 : les sièges, pays par pays, et la composition du futur Parlement
