Paris (France) (AFP) – France’s far-right party has reached a preliminary agreement with two European banks for a 10.6-million-euro loan for Marine Le Pen’s presidential campaign, the party’s treasurer said Tuesday.
Polls show Le Pen is the frontrunner to replace centrist President Emmanuel Macron in next spring’s election. But her National Rally party has until now struggled to find a bank willing to lend it the campaign funds. Apart from donations, the only way for a political party to finance a presidential campaign in France is to obtain a bank loan. However, several French banks, including Societe Generale and La Banque Postale, have refused, stating they no longer finance political activity.
“We are in very advanced talks with two European, but non-French, banks,” party treasurer Kevin Pfeffer told AFP. The lenders, whose names he declined to disclose, were expected to provide an answer “by the end of the month,” Pfeffer said, adding that he was “quite optimistic.” The preliminary agreement recognized “the reliability and credibility of the party’s application, which offers all the necessary guarantees,” he added.
Candidates who reach the second round are eligible for state reimbursement of campaign expenses of up to 10.7 million euros ($12 million). For years, the RN has struggled to secure financing from French banks, pushing it to seek alternative sources of funding. In 2022, it secured a 10.6-million-euro loan from a Hungarian bank. In the past, Le Pen’s party also contracted a 9.4-million-euro loan with a Moscow bank, which was paid off in 2023.
Pfeffer warned at a congress in Orleans in October that “the party will be able to support a campaign at a normal pace until the end of this year.” After that, however, he stated it would have to “find another solution.”
© 2024 AFP
