PARIS (Reuters) -Jean-Marie Le Pen, an unabashed nationalist and founder of the French far-right National Rally party, has died aged 96. Following are reactions to his death.
JORDAN BARDELLA, CHAIRMAN OF THE FAR-RIGHT NATIONAL RALLY
“Jean-Marie Le Pen is dead. Enlisted in the uniform of the French army in Indochina and Algeria, orator in the National Assembly and the European Parliament, he always served France, defended its identity and its sovereignty. Today my thoughts are with his family, his loved ones, and of course of (his daughter) Marine whose mourning must be respected.”
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT
“A historic figure of the far right, he played a role in the public life of our country for nearly seventy years, which is now a matter for history to judge.”
FRANCOIS BAYROU, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER
“Beyond the controversies that were his favourite weapon (…), JM Le Pen was a figure of French political life. We knew, by fighting him, what a fighter he was.”
BRUNO RETAILLEAU, FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER
“Today, a page in French political history has been turned. Whatever one’s opinion of Jean-Marie Le Pen, he will undoubtedly have left his mark on his era.”
JEAN-LUC MELENCHON, CHAIRMAN OF THE FAR-LEFT FRANCE UNBOWED PARTY:
“Respect for the dignity of the dead and the grief of their loved ones does not erase the right to judge their actions. Those of Jean-Marie Le Pen remain unbearable. The fight against the man is over. The fight against the hatred, racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism that he spread continues.”
NATIONAL RALLY PARTY IN A PRESS STATEMENT
“For the National Rally, he will remain the one who, during the storms, held in his hands the small flickering flame of the French Nation and who, through an unlimited will and tenacity, made the national movement an autonomous, powerful and free political family.
ERIC ZEMMOUR, FORMER FAR-RIGHT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
“Beyond the controversies, beyond the scandals, what we will remember about him in the coming decades is that he was among the first to alert France to the existential threats that awaited it. His legacy will be his vision and his courage, at a time when courageous men were not so numerous.”
TOM VAN GRIEKEN, CHAIRMAN OF BELGIAN FLEMISH FAR RIGHT VLAAMS BELANG PARTY
“With the passing of Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine Le Pen and her family lose a (grand)father and nationalist Europe loses a founding father. He was an example for our party in many ways. Sometimes stubborn, often inflexible, but always straightforward and true to his principles.”
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Zhifan Liu, Makini Brice, editing by Jean-Michel Belot, William Maclean and Christina Fincher)
