France’s Le Figaro magazine today is running a cover story into what it calls ‘L’Argent Secret du Front National’ –The Secret Money of the Front National, in what could be a last-ditch attempt by the French political establishment to stop the surge in support for Marine Le Pen and her anti-EU Front National in the elections to the European Parliament on May 25.
The magazine cover is a shadowy photograph of a sombre Le Pen, her collar turned up like a film noire detective.
Yet the investigation appears to do little more than re-circulate the kind of accusations that swirl around all the main French political parties.
It may be significant that Le Figaro is the voice of the French centre-right party, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), which is in danger of losing much of its traditional vote to Le Pen in the coming elections.
Latest opinion polls show the Front National running level with the UMP, while the Socialist Party of President Hollande is a distant third.
More, Le Figaro backs former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also in danger of losing much of his former UMP support to Le Pen if, as expected, he stands in the next presidential election in 2017.
A survey by OpinionWay for Le Figaro published on April 15 showed that President Hollande would easily be knocked out of the race by either Nicholas Sarkozy or Marine Le Pen if the presidential race were run today.
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